One Last Chance
by Kawa-Misuterii
Summary: Kagome is brutally mudered, and now InuYasha has nothing to live for. But hope is on the horizon for our dog-eared friend.
1. Prelude

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or any other Rumiko Takahashi characters. All original characters belong to me.

One Last Chance: Prelude

He held her broken body in his arms. Her eyes squinted up at him, and managed a small smile before coughing up more of her own blood. He stared down at her, unable to believe what he was witnessing. How was she supposed to survive a huge toxic tentacle plunging through her torso as she leaped in front of him before he dealt the final blow?  
No, no, this wouldn't stop her. It couldn't! Surely she would pull through, just like all the other times his own carelessness had almost caused her serious harm. She would pull though with a new scar, that's all. She would have to go home and rest for a long while, but that would be okay, because their long battle was over, thanks to her.  
InuYasha held her closer still, listening to her heartbeat slow, and begin to fade. Tears weld up in his eyes, but not a sound escaped him as he watched the very light in her eyes go out oh so slowly. Naraku had plunged his miasma-filled tentacle toward InuYasha as he raised his Tessaiga to toss the bastard into hell. The demon tried to stop him with the last move he could make, and InuYasha was so focused on powering up the Meido Zangetsuha, he didn't even notice the flesh zooming towards him. Kagome saw what was about to happen and ran in front of the hanyou to take the blow at the last second as he opened up the vortex, and sent both Naraku and the Shikon no Tama into the abyss.

..:iillii:..

InuYasha and Miroku carried her body away from the battle field on a makeshift stretcher made out of a nearby tree that InuYasha had sliced to pieces. Miroku's right hand was, for the first time in years, free of the rosary, as he relished the fact that his wind tunnel was gone. But for such a price, he thought, he would have allowed himself to be sucked into it.  
The hanyou was still in such a state of shock, he didn't really seem to be able to focus on what he was doing. Or perhaps, it was what he was doing that was distracting him.

_'You promised to protect her, always...'  
_  
'I know.'

_'And she promised to stay by your side...'_

'I know.'

_'Guess that makes you both liars, now, huh?'_

'She never lied.'

_'So what are you going to do now?'_

'...I don't know...'

_'What would you have done, if she lived?'_

'I never thought about it.'

_'So you knew she wouldn't survive?'_

'No. She was the one that was supposed to defeat him in the end.'

_'Then why did it never come up?'_

'Because I thought I was the one who was going to die.'

_'They say that talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity.'_

'Maybe that's the only option I have.'

..:iillii:..

"InuYasha?" said Sango quietly, a sob hidden on her breath. She peered worryingly at her friend as he stared into the small fire. Sango felt as if her world had finally come crashing down from the tentative stance it had taken ever since her father had died at the hands of her own brother. Kohaku had crumbled into a boneless heap after Naraku extracted the last shard from his back. Not only had she lost her brother today, but the girl she had come to consider a sister as well.  
InuYasha ignored her, lost in his own disbelieving grief. She was lying close to him, as if asleep, was it not for the gaping hole in her chest. She had died merely minutes after Naraku struck her, holding on long enough to make sure that the hanyou was okay. The group had stopped on their way back to Kaede's village in order to get some rest after their long battle. Miroku had collapsed in an exhausted heap by the fire after carefully setting Kagome down. Sango was cooking a small rabbit she had managed to catch while InuYasha stared into the fire, an expressionless face pasted on.  
Normally by now his ears would be swiveling a dozen different ways at once, his nose working over time, checking the area to see if any nearby youkai had any plans of attack, perhaps even circling the area a few times before settling down, although never truly at a complete rest. Now, though, Sango never thought she had seen anything sit so still, as if he were just waiting for the world to end.  
'To him, it has.' Sango thought bitterly. How could this have happened? Did they not fight hard enough? Was their quest dishonorable in some way? What had Kagome done to deserve this? What had any of them done?  
Sango felt another wave of sobs come over her, and rushed into the woods to relieve the unbearable pain with a few loud sobs and more tears than she knew she possessed.  
InuYasha's nose took in a small analyzing breath as a scent reached him that normally shoved him on his feet, reading for scuffle that would be broken up by Kagome activating the beads around his neck. 'But never again' he thought.  
A long, low, mournful chorus of howls raised the hairs on the back of his neck as the wolf demon tribe voiced their tremendous sorrow at their sister's death. Something stirred in his ribs as he thought about how many people would want to moan and howl at the news.  
Although he could smell and hear Kouga's presence behind him, InuYasha did nothing to acknowledge his presence, not even a flick of his ear. He heard the ookami prince fall to his knee's at Kagome's head, and begin sobbing as he curled his arms around her head, her blank eyes opening a little at the movement.  
"I...I...I could smell her death, b-but I thought it was just a trick of the wind or something...how..how...?" Kouga looked questioningly up at the hanyou, who he expected to draw his sword and end him right there.  
InuYasha turned his head a little, so he was looking at Kouga, the answer in his hideously miserable eyes. Kouga bowed his head, and gave Kagome a small, meaningful kiss on her forehead. He gently set her head down, and walked away towards the forest. When he was almost out of sight, he stopped, tossed his head to the heavens, and let out the longest and saddest moan yet, and another chorus of howls jumped up from the surrounding area.  
Miroku was startled out of his sleep, and for a moment, he forgot where he was. He looked around, and with sinking feeling, the events of the day flowed back to him, and a weary look of a man twenty years older came over his face. Sango walked silently back to camp, still rubbing her tears away, but not bothering to hide them. She looked up at Miroku, and in the next moment she was in his arms, sobbing again. The monk buried his face in her tangled hair as a few tears escaped his eyes as well.  
InuYasha did not even acknowledge the grieving couple, for his own grief seemed to be beyond tears. He felt as if someone was slowly smothering him with the realization that he would have given anything to deny. He drew his knees a little closer to his chest, and he was reminded horrifically of how he felt both the nights when both his mother and Kikyou died, although now the weight on his shoulders had increased tenfold. She had been cut, no, smashed down in her prime, with her whole life in front of her. She wouldn't have been anywhere near the final battle if it wasn't for him. If it wasn't for him, she would have jumped in front of that damn tentacle. If it wasn't for him, she'd be tucked safely into her bed now, warm and breathing in the protected world she never should have left.  
The guilt was too much to bear. His uncontrollable anger began to well��up inside him, and felt the need to kill something. Before his youkai energy had the chance to take over and he accidentally hurt the other two, he jumped up and ran towards the river nearby, jumping up and plunging in as soon as it came into view.  
As he sank towards to bottom, he considered not coming back up, and just lay there at the bottom of the pool as the youkai submitted and retreated back into his body. As he began to drown, he thought how what was happening to him now mirrored what was happening to his soul. At the last minute, he shot back up to the surface, as a thought reached him. Who was going to tell her mother, and the rest of her family? When his head reached the air, he didn't even bother gulping down oxygen that his body was screaming for. InuYasha crawled onto a rock, and retook his position with his knees drawn up close to his chest.

_'What would you be doing now, if she was here?'_

'I'd want to hold her close to me, and never ever let go.'

'_So you truly never thought about what you were going to do when this was all over?'_

'Not really.'

_'She loved you. She even told you so. You never thought about a response?'_

'Of corse I did. I thought about maybe asking her to stay with me. But-'

_'But you still thought no one would want a hanyou?'_

'Who would, really?'

_'She would have loved to. This place is...was more of a home to her than the other was. At least in the last couple months. You know that.'_

'But all the shit she would've had to go through...it wouldn't have been fair. I don't care how much she protected the villagers, they'd kill her in a heartbeat if they found out that she was with a filthy hanyou.'

_'Bet she would have put up with it, though, for you. Bet she would have given those idiots the what for.'_

The voice in InuYasha's head snickered and flickered out of existence, for the time being. InuYasha felt a shiver run down his spine that had nothing to do with the cold water, and in a flash, he was running again, this time to no where in particular.  
No, that wasn't right. He was trying to run away from the pain now. As he leaped from tree to tree, almost flying, only coming down to jump back up again, Kagomes' face came into his mind. She was talking to him, but he couldn't hear what she was saying. Suddenly she was mad, her face flushed and scrunched in the way it only did whenever he had said something offensive to her, often resulting in him being sat. InuYasha shut his eyes closed as hard as he could, resulting in him miscalculating his step and falling out of the tree, smashing onto his own face, much as if she had sat him.  
His fists were trembling at his side as he rose. His frantic dash for relief was over, and he began walking back to his companions.  
"InuYasha." said a cold, stately voice. There was only one person with that voice who would be talking to him at a time like this.  
Perfect.

..:iillii:..

"So the miko is definitely dead?" Sesshomaru stated, without even a hint of pity. InuYasha hadn't bothered to stand in his brother's presence. He couldn't bring himself to answer, as if saying it out loud would make it true. His head was screaming at him that she was dead, and it was all his fault. But his heart was whispering the words he had always wanted to tell her, the soft pumping denying the truth like a hot coal in an ice cold lake.  
"Tis a shame, InuYasha. She was a strong being." said the taiyoukai, the closest thing to comfort he would ever offer his half-brother. "Especially since her duty was not finished." He added, waiting for the hanyou's reaction. He saw the boy's ears twitch, but gave no other sign that he could even hear the demon lord.  
"When you were fighting Naraku, you seemed to think I was knocked out. Quite the contrary. I was waiting for the right moment to attack while you distracted him. But of corse, you decided that it would be best to get rid of both him and the jewel in the same swing. Perhaps you had overlooked the possibility, younger brother, but do you not think that Naraku would have the power to escape hell with the Shikon no Tama?" said the lord, noting that his ears twitched again. "Before it escaped with him, I managed to take the jewel out of his clutches, to insure that very scenario wouldn't occur." The taiyoukai reached inside of his armor and pulled out the small orb, still black with Naraku's evil.  
"I've noticed that you seem to attract women who can purify the Shikon no Tama. Perhaps, should you ever find another who can purify it completely, you may seek me out. Until then, I shall keep it safe." with that, Sesshomaru placed it back in his armor and retreated into the darkness, back to his vassals, who were awaiting his return.  
InuYasha felt himself give a small 'keh' at the idea of someone who could do what Kagome could do. He stood up, and leaped back to the camp.

..:iillii:..

They marched into the familiar village with solemn faces. InuYasha was dreading Kaede-Obaa-chan's and Shippou's reactions. With a jolt, he remembered Kagome promising that everyone would come back alright to the little kitsune. He could almost smell the boy's broken heart already. Once more, the crushing pain of her absence weighed in on him, and it took all of his strength not to try and run away again. Something would not let him believe that Kagome wouldn't wake from her sleep. But that didn't stop him from missing her ever warming presence. It felt almost like whenever she would escape to her own world after seeing him with Kikyou. Gone, and he just didn't have the heart to go get her, just yet anyway.  
InuYasha let a small moan breach his lips as he wished it were true, how he wished it were all a dream! He would give his own life, his own soul just to see his Kagome standing beside Goshinboku, resting her hand on the smooth patch off wood, where they had first met. He felt Miroku give a small tug on the stretcher behind him, and began to set it down. The blanket that had covered her still body was jostled a little when it hit the ground, and her pale face was uncovered.  
The longest moment InuYasha ever endured transpired after that. He stared down at her for an eternity, and yet, she still wasn't dead, not yet, not to him. That wasn't Kagome. Kagome was full of life, always smiling and laughing and talking. She was never so sad as she looked lying there. Finally, he reached down and pulled the blanket back over her face, and promptly sat down beside her, refusing to look at the others.  
Miroku and Sango reluctantly headed towards Kaede's hut. The next hour seemed to be over within a few seconds. Kaede took the news much as InuYasha expected of the old miko. She bowed her head and said a prayer for her soul, tears silently falling down her old face. The reaction that he was not expecting was Shippou's. Instead of the screaming and blame that he had come to expect of the boy, a simple deadened look came into his eyes as he looked at the covered body of his surrogate mother, another parent lost to him. He did what InuYasha had wanted to do the night before; he turned and ran.  
The others tried to catch up with him, but InuYasha knew better than to even try to bring him back. The kitsune was much too young to have to deal with this again, it was only natural for him to run. Even if they did manage to catch him, he would only run again. It was Shippou's choice weather or not he would come back. InuYasha wouldn't blame him if he didn't. He wanted to run himself, and never look back.

..:iillii:..

After Shippous' desertion, the monk and demon slayer returned, after half-heartedly searching for the little youkai. They found InuYasha at his favorite spot, at the top of Goshinboku, his hair flowing in the lazy breeze.  
"InuYasha, perhaps now would be the time to...return...Kagome...to her home." said Miroku, a sob hidden beneath the calm in his voice.  
"Houshi-sama, perhaps this is not the time-" said Sango, placing a hand on the monks shoulder, but not being able to complete her thought as the hanyou jumped down from his perch and walked over to his once breathing companion.  
InuYasha picked her up off of the stretcher, and clutched her body in his arms. Something in him still would not allow him to think that the lifeless body was Kagome, his Kagome, who was always moving, so full of strength. No, it couldn't be her, said his heart soothingly. InuYasha ignored his mind's screaming, and leapt to the Bone Eater's Well, disappearing in a flash of blue light.  
The hanyou reemerged from the well house, debating on what to do next. He couldn't just leave her for her family to find, but he didn't think he'd be able to handle their faces, hearing their hearts break, too. He walked up to the house, and took a deep breath. No, he couldn't do it, he said to himself, shaking his head violently. He had to stop himself from jumping back up into Goshinboku, from breaking the stiff body he was clutching.  
InuYasha felt a twinge of guilt as he awkwardly struggled with the sliding door, struggling to keep Kagome in a respectable position, the blanket beginning to slide off of her form as he managed to open it with one arm holding her. He shifted her back into his arms without bothering to close the door behind him.  
The house was asleep, and the kitchen was dark and silent, matching the moment perfectly. InuYasha felt as if he was being suffocated again, the air around him was too heavy, even for his superior hanyou lungs. He laid her out on the dining room table, and a memory dragged itself to the surface of his mother in the exact same position, on her funeral pyre.  
'No, she can't be, this is just a dream!" screamed InuYasha's heart, the denial wearing thin. The hanyou jumped as her heard stirring in one of the rooms nearby. He began backing towards the open door as a lone figure wandered in.  
Mama Higurashi had walked into her kitchen, hoping to see her daughter home early from her adventures in the past, perhaps in need of some tea. Mama smiled at the thought that perhaps her daughter was home early because she had finally finished her mission. She knew that their battle was nearing it's end.  
Kagome's mother was a bit surprised to see the hanyou boy her daughter had befriended standing alone in the kitchen. She looked hopefully around for her daughter when her eyes came to rest on the figure lying on the table. Something in her head stopped, and the look on her face went from cheerful and welcoming to as if someone had carved it out of ice. Horror washed over her body as she dropped to her knees, never taking her eyes off of the thing on her table, that unbearably still thing. It couldn't possibly be...  
She looked up at the boy and saw the misery in his eyes. Was that guilt she saw?  
"YOU!" she screamed at the hanyou, running and pulling a meat cleaver out of a nearby drawer. She would kill him! She had trusted him with her daughter's life and he had failed. So now it was time for revenge before he escaped. She threw the cleaver with all her might at the fair-haired boy, but he was too quick, and it lodged itself in the wood paneling behind him. Before she could throw something else at him, he leapt out of the house, and back towards the well house.  
InuYasha heard the moan of a mother losing her child, as well as his heart breaking yet again, but this time for Kagome's mother.

..:iillii:..

He was sitting at the top of Goshinboku again, the wind whipping his face. Tears were finally breaching his hard eyes as the unbearable reality hit him like a poison claw through his stomach. The silence was surprisingly comforting to him, as he opened his mouth to speak for the first time since it happened.  
"I'm sorry." InuYasha whispered before he leapt away, too silent and careful to be seen by his remaining comrades.


	2. Chapter 1

One Last Chance: Chapter One

Five years. Five years it had been since the shattering of their group. Miroku smiled a little at his daughters, running and wearing themselves out as they continued their journey back to the village that had been such a big part of their lives.

After nearly four months of begging, Sango had finally agreed to return to Kaede to have their fourth child, the one who the monk had pleaded with the Kami to be a boy. Miroku had to smirk at the irony. Never before had he begged to have interruption of the presence of so many women.

"Izumi, stop beating up your sisters." called Miroku, snapping out of his daydream as he noticed his eldest pushing her siblings out of the way, almost crushing tiny Kirara. They took after their mother, choosing to fight with each other instead of playing, and sometimes the bickering drove him absolutely crazy!.

Sango, glowing with pride at the strength and youthfulness of her children, turned around to give her husband a small smile. She was now rather large around, and positively disgusted with herself. She knew that she should have started the journey back to Kaede's earlier, but the nostalgia that her demon slayer village held was too much to leave behind on a stupid whim, like giving birth.

"Do you think we'll be able to reach the village by nightfall?" Sango asked conversationally, not wanting to have to sleep on the hard ground.

"I suppose, if your daughters don't accidentally kill each other, that is." was her sarcastic reply. "Mai, stop that right now!" yelled the monk at the second oldest, no longer able to hold his irritation.

"What happened to that famous monk patience?" smirked Sango, who was about ready to keel over at the pain in her feet, but suddenly stopped, holding her arms out to her children protectively.

"Do you feel that, Miroku?" she whispered over her shoulder, finding herself suddenly frozen to the spot.

"Yes, my dear Sango, there is no need for alarm." said the monk, releasing his death grip on the staff that he still carried with him.

The group heard a loud rustling in the distance. A smile replaced Sango's worried face as a familiar red and white blur bounced from tree to tree. Only her husband saw the sadness behind it, but her children began pulling on her clothes frantically, causing the hanyou's entrance to be somewhat subdued, despite his already disturbingly quite nature. It never ceased to cause them grief whenever they saw their friend, who had changed in nature so much, they wouldn't have recognized him were it not for his sarcasm.

"Mama, Daddy, is that him? Is that InuYasha?" screeched Mai, who had been too young on their 

last trip to remember the half demon. In the five years that had passed, InuYasha had only made an appearance each time they made the journey for Sango to have another baby. Although he would rather be dragged to hell than admit it, the hanyou still felt the need to protect the pack when it was at it's most vulnerable.

"Yes, Mai, that's him. InuYasha, how good to see you." smiled the monk weakly, feeling his own happiness wear away at the look on his former companions face.

Although the monk felt as if he had achieved nirvana the moment he had settled down with Sango, he admitted (only to himself of corse) that he sometimes missed the half-demons' company. Miroku was completely convinced that InuYasha would never return to his pack after the death of the little miko. But he was proven wrong the day that they began their journey for the birth of their first child. Sure, Miroku had been surprised when the red clad figure jumped down from the trees in front of them, and without saying a word, walked protectively in front of them. But his relief at seeing his old friend overtook his shock. And so they repeated this ritual again the second and third time Sango was with child, InuYasha never saying more then a handful of words.

Miroku knew for a fact that InuYasha had asked Kaede to seal him to the tree again not too long after his second daughter was born. The monk could only imagine the self hatred, remorse, and depression the poor boy was going through. Kaede, of corse, had profusely refused, giving simple excuses such as her powers were beginning to fade, she was too old. But they all knew that the woman still possessed a great amount of vitality. It was her reluctance to do the deed that stopped her.

"Another girl, Miroku!" Kaede called out to the sweating monk standing beside the hut. She chuckled as she heard a loud moan escape his lips as the screaming child writhed in her hands. "Ye will have your hands full with this one!" Kaede smiled, handing the infant over to her mother.

"Payback's a bitch, huh monk?" said InuYasha with a trace of a smile. The minuscule grin on his face disappeared as he looked at the hut, memories threatening to overtake him once again.

Running wild all over Japan had managed to num the pain that throbbed in his heart, but not make it go away. Lately, InuYasha had taken to transforming into a full demon, leaving the Tessaiga in a safe place and going on a rampage of destruction whenever the memories and pain got to be too much. Since he had finally managed to control his youkai side enough so that he only killed demons and managed to stay away from innocents, he spent entire days in bloodlust, followed by weeks of wandering around aimlessly.

But that seemed to be his life, now. No true point to it. Other than the village that was too nostalgic for him to be around anymore, everyone he met hated and feared him. He found himself in the same situation before he had met Kikyou. He had been chased out of every village he had come close to, the same for every youkai territory (at least the ones he didn't feel like 

killing).

What he wouldn't give to be in that grey purgatory of enchanted sleep, InuYasha thought miserably.

"Did anyone else feel a rather large demonic aura to the north a few weeks ago?" asked Miroku, jumping on his chance. This was the first time in years they're almost completed group was gathered around him. Kaede had fixed them a congratulatory stew, and was busy ladling into bowls for everyone, her eye narrowed in anticipation.

"You never told me you felt anything!" shouted Sango indignantly, startling InuYasha out of his lull.

"Felt what?" he muttered sleepily, still locked in his daydream state.

"My dear Sango, please calm down. I didn't want to worry you in your fragile condition. It was very far away, and I couldn't tell if it was real or imaginary." replied Miroku soothingly.

"Humph." pouted Sango, refusing to look at her husband, choosing to tickle the infant in her arms. "I didn't feel it." she muttered.

"That's because your senses are dulled when your pregnant." The snide comment had come from the hanyou sitting cross-legged in the corner, who was beginning to feel uncomfortable in the closed surroundings of the miko's hut.

There was a small silence, then-

"Wait, I did feel an evil presence a little while ago!" remarked Kaede excitedly. "I remember wanting to send a messenger to go get you two, but the winter was harsh on the roads. By the time the roads cleared, the evil had disappeared, and I didn't want to waste any man power that could be plowing the fields."

Another silence-

"You don't think-" said Sango worriedly before being abruptly cut off.

"It's not Naraku." stated an obviously irritated hanyou, now twitching his leg unconsciously.

"Forgive me, InuYasha, but you did send him away with the jewel. It wouldn't be the first time someone escaped from hell, and in my opinion-"

"Your opinion, my ass. He didn't have the jewel." said InuYasha. Although everyone was too tired to notice, his voice lacked the bark it used to, despite the demon's frustration. It would seem that his anger at the world had melted into an annoyance beneath his notice.

"What do ye mean he didn't have the jewel, boy?" said Kaede, her good eye narrowed in suspicion.

"Enough of this 'boy' crap. I'm way older than you." stated InuYasha simply, unsure as to why he was avoiding the question.

"InuYasha, what do you know?" shouted Kaede and Sango at the same time, while Miroku mumbled something under his breath. The tension in the room began to mount.

"Just what I said. The jewel wasn't with him when I opened the portal." he replied, turning his nose away.

"How on earth did you get it away from him?"

"I didn't."

"INUYASHA!" yelled the group.

"Alright, alright, Sesshomaru took it off of him before I sent him to hell, okay?" he said, still not sure of his words for some reason.

"Why have ye not told us this?" asked Kaede.

InuYasha had to think for a moment. It had been so long since he allowed his memory to stray to that day, he had honestly forgotten what Sesshomaru had said to him. He felt a familiar throb in his temple as he recalled the events as quickly as he could, as if that would ease the hurt.

"Sesshomaru thought Naraku might be able to escape hell with the jewel, so he got it away from him somehow before I opened the portal. He said he'd protect it until...until..." InuYasha trailed off as their conversation came leaking back into his head. He tried to open his mouth again, but Kaede finished for him, to his surprise.

"Until there is another who can finish the job that was given to my sister." the old miko said solemnly. "InuYasha, I wish that ye had told me this sooner. I doubt ye understand what complications this arises."

InuYasha's first instinct was to act as if he didn't know what the old hag was talking about. But something told him that now was not the time to pretend to be the unthinking, unfeeling creature he had strived to become in the past few years.

"Why?" he stated quickly, demanding an answer.

"Because there could very well be a third reincarnation, waiting to resume her duty to purify the 

Shikon no Tama."

The silence after that statement was pregnant with disbelief. As everyone digested the concept of yet another reincarnated priestess with Kikyou's likeness on her face, their hearts ached at the idea. But InuYasha was the most effective.

'She's still out there!'

'No. It's too good to be true.'

'But you heard her! She's not really dead!'

'Even if she didn't move on, and by some impossible force I managed to find her, it still wouldn't be Kagome, or Kikyou for that matter.'

'Hmm...'

'Really, other than they looked alike, Kagome and Kikyou were completely different people.'

'They were different people, but they were the same soul. You know you loved them both for the same reason in the end...'

'Stop, I...I can't think about this right now.'

'If that soul is still out there, you owe it to yourself to try and find her...'

"NO!" InuYasha yelled out loud, startling the others out of their silence. He jumped up and left the room, wanting to leap off again. 'Gotta take the monk and his wench back home first.' he sighed mentally, cursing his weakness.

"Oh...AH! They'll be fine." he said before taking off, flying over the trees. He had gone no further than Goshinboku when he noticed Kirara flying beside him, glancing at him worriedly. The hanyou sighed again in defeat, and jumped up to his favorite spot, Kirara surprising him by taking a seat on a branch beneath him.

"You know, even if she was reborn, there would be no way for me to know when she was born, or where. Who's to say that she wasn't born 500 years after Kagome's time? How the heck am I supposed to find her then, huh?" he said arguably. Kirara growled as if in mock agreement.

'I swear if she could talk, I'd never get away with anything.'

"And it wouldn't be my responsibility, anyway. I was going to use the jewel to become a full demon, remember?" he said, glad to be talking to someone other than his inner voice. "I was the bad guy."

And with that, another wave of remorse washed over him as he realized that he had never told 

Kagome that he wouldn't use the jewel for his own needs. He knew that she knew he wouldn't, but still. He should have said it to her face, on one of those nights where it was just the two of them, looking up at the sky. He couldn't help but smile at the memory of her wonderment at something so simple as the stars. Again, the crushing weight of his grief began to rain down on him.

He remembered Miroku speaking with him the night after the birth of his first daughter.

"InuYasha, how have you been faring these past few months?"

"Keh, none of your business."

"I'm worried about you, my friend."

"Ain't no reason to be..." he had said, his voice a little softer.

"On the contrary, there is plenty of reason. I know your life has been difficult, my friend, and maybe you need more time." the monk stopped, gripping his shakujou. "Perhaps you should consider moving on...you are still so young, you could claim the greatness that should've been your birthright!" Miroku said enthusiastically, almost managing a smile. "You know, I bet you could even claim a territory, like your brother, or-"

"No way. I don't want anything he has."

sigh

InuYasha closed his eyes.

'Why am I so quick to think she's even been reborn? It's practically impossible!'

'You want her to come back. It's only natural, you know. You did lo-'

'No, not this again. She's not coming back. Dammit! How often does this have to come back to haunt me! I thought I was over this!' InuYasha shouted at himself, humiliated as he felt actual tears well up in his eyes.

'You know that. And I know that. But it seems that our heart is a little deaf at the moment.'

"ARRGH!" InuYasha wanted to pull his hair out! How was it that he could make himself so angry? Kirara yowled in disagreement beneath him, her teeth showing in a menacing grin.

"What?"

'Grrrr...'

InuYasha sat back against the tree, reflecting that that yell was probably the loudest noise to have 

come out of his mouth in years, despite his constant battle with demons. He felt a small amount of pride at how much better he was at hiding his emotions in battle. He had even begun to strive for the stoic expression that always graced Sesshomaru's face, although he would never admit that to anyone.

Despite being a hanyou, he was becoming known amongst other demons as a fierce fighter, especially if they could get him in his youkai form. Some had actually sought him out to prove their worth against him in battle, but so far he was undefeated. He tried to get his mind off of Kagome by remembering his last battle, with a particularly smelly ogre with a club twice InuYasha's size. He had spent the good part of two hours fighting the stubborn thing until he managed to catch it off guard, slicing it to pieces with the Adamant Barrage. Sure, he spent the last two days recovering from a particularly nasty concussion before going to meet Miroku and Sango, but it was worth it to see the look on that lumpy face right before a million little diamond spears sliced it to pieces.

"Keh." Feeling it was time to move, InuYasha leapt down from the tree, and headed back to Kaedes', followed by the transformed Kirara, who then jumped up to ride on his shoulder.

"I'm glad ye decided not to leave us just yet, InuYasha." said the old miko without turning to look when InuYasha stepped into the hut, his hands uncharacteristically at his sides. "Perhaps ye wish to talk?" she said tentatively.

"If there is another...reincarnation...would she just find her way here by accident, like...you know..." he said, trailing off, unable to say her name out loud.

"That, I do not know, InuYasha. I suppose we will just have to wait and see. Although I suggest that perhaps you should stay near the area." she said.

"Can you still go through the well?" piped up Sango, accidentally startling the baby. InuYasha's brow wrinkled in thought. True, he never felt the need to go back to the future after Kagome's mother tried to kill him, but did that mean it had been sealed? He still had the beads around his neck, assuming that was what let him through to the future.

"I guess so..."

"Perhaps you should go through and see if-" started Miroku

"No."

"But-"

"No. I'm not going there. Besides, there isn't any chance...there won't be...anything there."

"I believe there is a way to be sure of that, if ye are willing to help." said Kaede wryly.

"I'm not sure I know what your talking about, Lady Kaede-" said Miroku stupidly, trying to think of an indication spell of that particular situation, and coming up dumb.

"There is a ritual I learned from a strange looking traveler a rather long time ago, not long after I took my priestess vows. He had fiery hair and spots on his face, but he wasn't sick. And old man eyes, despite the fact that he was very young. I believe he was trying to court me despite my injured eye..." Kaede trailed off, a smile playing at her lips and a glazed look in her eye. Everyone else in the room seemed to be slightly disturbed at the idea..

"Sumimasen, Kaede, you were saying?"said Sango.

"Yes. I'm going to need some materials. Houshi-sama, would you perhaps have any more sacred sutras? I need a large blank one, and some ink..." she said, beginning to bustle around. InuYasha expected the monk to sigh and have to go make a trip in order to find what she wanted, but to his surprise, Miroku smiled and pulled out a roll of paper.

"Hai, I have one, Kaede, as luck would have it." Miroku smiled, feeling more useful than usual. He unrolled the paper and raised his hand to his lip in prayer. "Okay, that ought to do it. Would you tell us what you want to do, Kaede?"

"Luck is exactly what we need right now.��I don't remember the exact details on how to do this, but these western rituals are far less exact. Let me see that." Kaede reached for the paper, pulling out a paintbrush and a small pan of ink. She preceded to paint Kanji symbols on it. InuYasha peeked over her shoulder, to see her writing Kikyou's name and the dates she was born and died. Then a series of numbers and all of the seasons. InuYasha felt his eyes began to ache at seeing all of the symbols when Kaede stopped finally, having filled up the entire sutra. She then reached into her miko robes and pulled out a clear, disc shaped stone.

"Now, Houshi-sama, if you will loan some of you spiritual power, perhaps this might work." smiled Kaede.

Miroku nodded and began to pray, only to have his wrist jerked down onto the stone, Kaede placing his fingers along the edge. Kaede bowed her head, but instead of chanting, she merely closed her eyes. InuYasha snorted his disbelief and leaned back on the wall to watch the old hag make a fool of herself. The hanyou almost choked on his tongue when he saw the stone glow a pale green and begin to move of it's own accord, despite both Kaede's and Miroku's fingers placed around it's edges.

"Quick, InuYasha, remember the symbols that it stops on!" rasped Kaede, feeling her energy being manipulated by a strange force. InuYasha picked up the brush Kaede used, and having nothing else to write on, shook his sleeve back and wrote on his arm. They continued like that in silence for about ten minutes, The stone pausing every now and then, InuYasha carefully writing on his arm. The eerie glow jumped up from the stone, gave a small spark, almost as if saying goodbye, and blinked itself out of existence.

"Well that was defiantly foreign." said a puzzled InuYasha, his eyebrow cocked as he finished the last Kanji tattoo on his arm.

"InuYasha! That was permanent ink!" said Kaede indignantly, creasing her brows in annoyance.

"So what?" InuYasha peered at his arm curiously, having not really paid attention at what he was writing.

"What does it say?" asked Miroku, trying to see over Kaede's shoulder.

"It's a date." said InuYasha, his nose scrunched up at the smell of ink on his skin. He looked at it, trying to remember if he had ever seen an exact date in Kagome's time, to no avail.

'How the heck should I know what year it even was when I went through?' he asked himself angrily. 'Okay, I know it was roughly 500 years in the future, what else do I know...it was spring the last time I went...oh god, that day...focus! dog-boy...it was the beginning of spring, there was still snow on the ground to the north...so it was about March or so...' InuYasha wrinkled his nose at the thought of using western calendars. From all he had heard about westerners from Kagome, they were a stupid bunch. The friendliness of the spirit that just helped them proved that much. No spirit in it's right mind would say good bye.

"I don't think this is too long after my last visit, actually..." said the hanyou, still looking at the date.

"There is only one way to find out." said Miroku, a small smile playing at his lips. 'Perhaps InuYasha will find something meaningful to live for, if this does not prove to be a ruse...' he thought, feeling a little treacherous. 'I know what will make him go. "Although perhaps you are not the person for this job, it really seems to be a complicated thread which fate weaves..." he said coyly, trying to hide his evil smile.

"What do you mean I can't do it?" InuYasha felt a familiar anger flare in his stomach, one he hadn't felt in quite a long time. He stood to his full height. "I'll find her, but just so we can get this business with the jewel over with!" said InuYasha, making his resolution without even thinking. "And it won't be Kagome! It'll be someone else, so don't bother getting your hopes up!"

complete silence...

InuYasha seemed to have realized the impact of his words a moment too late, his mouth hanging open at what had just come out of it. He snapped it shut, and stormed out of the hut again, walking purposely to the Bone Eater's Well, but losing faith with each step. He came to a stop at the well, and slouched against it, peering into the darkness.

_'It'll let you through.'_

'I know.'

_'It had nothing to do with the shards.'_

'Yeah.'

_'What if she's exactly like Kikyou?'_

'That's a strange question to ask...'

_'Or maybe your wrong, and it will be Kagome. Just a little younger...Maybe-'_

'Maybe I need to stop talking to myself.'

_'You can't help it. You need someone to talk to. I understand.'_

'Shut up. I'm not funny.'

_'You sure could make Kagome laugh, sometimes.'_

'Usually at my own expense.'

_'Wasn't it worth it?'_

sigh 'Yes. I need to stop remembering her now, before the damn waterworks start.'

_'Alright. Let's ponder what this date means...'_

'Well?'

_'You're the brain. I'm just the soul.'_

'Cocky bastard.'

_'Our sense of humor seems to be returning, at least.'_

'What if it's a date of birth?'

_'Sounds probable.'_

'Why do you sound like Miroku?'

_'Because he is a word of reason against our erratic emotions.'_

'Since when do I know such big words?'

_'Hmm hmm hmm, we are beginning to heal already, and we haven't even met the girl.'_

'Shut up.'

_'Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.'_

'You are going to go find her, aren't you?'

_'Whose to say it's even a her? It's reincarnation, it could be a guy.'_

'Maybe.'

InuYasha didn't like that idea.

_'Perhaps we should use this time to formulate a plan in order to find her.'_

'Yeah. I should. But what the heck am I supposed to do? I could barely blend in there with Kagome to help me. What am I supposed to do by myself?'

_'The fates that be, will let it be.'_

'What kind of crappy response is that?'

_'One that'll make you understand.'_

'What? I don't understand anything your trying to tell me. Does that mean she's just gonna come tumbling through the well?'

_'Common on now, we know that just won't happen twice. It would appear that it is your responsibility after all. You're the only one who can tell her what her duty is, her true purpose on this planet, seeing as you're the only one who can get to her that knows.'_

'What if she doesn't want to come? I know I wouldn't.'

_'The fates that be, will let it be.'_

'Right.'

And with that, InuYasha jumped down the well, engulfed in a flash of blue light a second later. 


	3. Chapter 2

One Last Chance: Chapter 2

InuYasha leaped out of the well, finding himself in the old shrine again.

'Well, what now?' InuYasha thought stupidly. 'I'm a half demon with nothing but some weird clothes and a sword in the future. sigh Better find some help.'

InuYasha walked out of the well house, thinking that he would sneak pass the house without the family noticing, but to his mild surprise, the shrine house was deserted, and from the moldy scents he picked up, it had been that way for a while now. 'Probably couldn't stand living with the memories.' he thought grimly. 'Same reason I can't stay in the village.'

He leaped up to her window, just like he used to, surprised to discover that some of her things were still there. The bed was bare, and her stuffed animals and other possessions were gone, but the scuffed carpet still held her aged scent, but it was so stale he almost choked inhaling it. It wasn't that he hadn't ever smelled something foul, but the fact that it was her scent that smelled so old and decrepit that made him feel nauseous.

"Kagome..." he whispered, deciding that it wasn't a good idea to stick around and remember. He turned to leave, but a thought occurred to him. A thought that made him cringe with guilt but seemed necessary.

He got on his hands and knees to begin sniffing around, making sure he was well away from Kagome's room and half-way down the hall so he didn't bring up any memories that'd spent so long in the dark reassesses of his mind. Then he managed to find it, a smell he was almost sure he'd forgotten.

'Downstairs...' he said, crawling his way nimbly down the stair case. It was the smell of that weird paper currency. To his surprise, there was ramen close to it, as well. Although his face wouldn't show it, he smiled a little inwardly at the thought of his favorite meal. He remembered telling Kagome that he just wanted some ninja food, and there was no other reason he would ever come to visit her house, but that was a complete lie. From the moment he stepped foot in the place to retrieve her, he felt as if it was his own home, there was so much welcome and love in it, despite the old man trying to purify him half the time.

He was sure it was coming from one of the cabinets in the kitchen, the ramen smelling stale and old. He stood up and opened the small door, and to his surprise, a piece of paper drifted gracefully off the shelf to land by his feet.

_Dear InuYasha,_

I'm leaving this here for you incase you ever need it. I know where you come from is dangerous and you might need a safe place to stay. I just want you to know that mom was sorry about trying to hurt you that night. She knew there was no way you'd ever hurt her. She's been real sad lately, but I think moving to Osaka will help to get her mind off of it. Grandpa died not too long ago, and we decided that it would be better if we just got away from this big old house. I kept hoping that maybe you would come back before we left, so I'd get to see you one more time. I wanted to thank you again for all the help you gave me whenever I needed it. I want you to know that you were like the big brother I always wanted. I'm leaving you a box of ramen and some money to buy more, if you need it. Don't forget to wear a hat outside.

I wanted you to know something important. I know you think that no one likes you because you have dog ears, but Kagome really did. I think she loved you. I know this doesn't mean much, but if you go up to her room and look under her bed, I left you a box full of stuff that ought to help. I miss her a lot sometimes. I keep thinking one day she'll just open up the shrine doors with a big smile on her face, and a new story to tell me. Anyway, the house is going to stay empty until my mom decides what she wants to do with it, so stay as long as you want. If you want to visit Kagome, we buried her in the graveyard two blocks away, in the other direction from her school. Good luck, InuYasha, for whenever you find it.

Souta

  
To his dismay, InuYasha felt the tears in his eyes again, but this time did nothing to prevent them from falling. He looked at the box of ramen and the baseball cap sitting in the cupboard, and felt gratitude towards the little boy. He still had friends, no matter how far they were.

'Pull yourself together. You got a job to do.'

'But you really want to see what's in that box.'

'That won't do anything but bring back memories.'

'Don't you think you've been blocking them out long enough? You've got no problem remembering Kikyou-'

'That's completely different.'

'Yes, it is. She just quelled your loneliness. Kagome, on the other hand...'

'They both helped me. And they both left me.'

'What's this we feel? Is that anger?'

'How could she leave me?'

'It was that or you left her. Which would you choose?'

'It's not like I wouldn't sacrifice myself for her.'

'And she knew that.'

'This can't keep up. I-I can't keep doing this to myself.'

'Okay then. Her brother did leave you a rather good amount of cash. Before you find the reincarnation, you should find somewhere else to stay. Perhaps a job. A little money wouldn't hurt.'

'What the heck can I do here?'

'Something strength related. Should be easy enough, compared to these humans.'

'I guess something temporary wouldn't hurt. It'll take a while, won't it?'

'Only the fates can tell.'

'I don't believe in fate.'

'Oh come, now-'

'No, not any more.'

InuYasha had slept in Goshinboku again, trying to ignore his misery, and her window in the corner of his eye. As the sun's ray's gently prodded him awake, and the sounds of morning Tokyo reminded him where he was, he decided that perhaps it wasn't the worst way to wake up.

'First things first. I need new clothes.' he grumbled to himself, deciding that today was probably going to suck.

He went back into the house to get the money, and fingering through it, hoping there was enough to buy himself something decent. Perhaps if he went to one of those thrift shops Kagome had told him about once when an old homeless woman had walked into him and he ended up smelling like mothballs.

He grabbed the hat and slammed it on his head, walking purposefully out the front door. Leaping gracefully down the huge set of shrine steps, he decided that he'd have to learn how to act more human, which met not running like a leaping deer. Or growling. Damn, this was gonna be hard.

Although InuYasha had refused to ever put on shoes, he though perhaps that was what made him feel so out of place on the street, despite his (he just noticed, compared to others) rather ridiculously large pants, the bright red haori, or his long silver hair. He had left Tessaiga in the well house, against his better judgement, but then again, what was going to happen in this world?

He had to restrain himself from getting on the ground and sniffing out the mothballs Kagome had told him about, but thought that perhaps that was a mistake as he realized he was lost. Looking wildly around him, he realized that he was in the wild, downtown section, and wondered how he had gotten there so fast. He noticed a group of dirty-looking teenaged boys pointing and laughing at him, but something in their laugh was good natured. Before he tried to punish them for laughing, a small smile played at his lips. He could smell mothballs.

"OI! Where'd you get those clothes?" InuYasha yelled, walking quickly over to them, impressing his obvious superior height upon them, looking down his nose. It didn't get the response he'd hoped for.

"Eh, man, you lose a bet or somethin? What's with the duds? You look like a cosplay or somethin..." one of the older boys said giggling, looking rather starry-eyed.

"Uhh...are you okay?" the hanyou asked, lifting his eyebrow.

"Aww, man, your stoned outta your mind!" squealed one of the other boys, smacking the oldest on the shoulder as he doubled over with laughter.

InuYasha felt the small smile staying on his lips as he witnessed the silliness of the boys. He thought perhaps this was because of those 'drug' things Kagome had told him about once, with disgust in her voice.

"Are you baka's gonna help me or what?" he said irritably.

"Sure man, okay, okay, we ain't got nothing better to do." smiled the oldest boy. The group led him to a narrow ally, and descended down a suffocating flight of steps. InuYasha found himself in a small room, filled with racks of old cloths and bins of worn-out shoes.

"Everything is 100 yen, man. Awesome, huh? Some crazy old lady runs the place, and she don't have a clue about money. She'll give a whole outfit for a couple hundred yen. How much you got on ya?" said one of the smaller boys, talking quickly.

"Uhhh...this much." said InuYasha, pulling the fist full of money. The oldest boy squinted his eyes, scrutinizing it closely.

"Yeah, that'll be enough. Browse around." he said, waving InuYasha off as he went to go talk to the pretty girl sitting at the counter.

It had taken over an hour, but InuYasha finally had two sets of cloths and even a pair of shoes that fit him. He drew the line at socks, but all in all decided that he was rather pleased with himself.

Disgruntled that he couldn't read the strange foreign words on his hat, (It says Big Dog in English, muahahaha) he bought a few bandanas to cover his ears, like some of the guys who brought him there were wearing. Feeling comfortable in the loose jeans and red shirt he bought, he paid for his cloths, slipped on a pair of only slightly worn oversized converse, and walked out of the store with a paper bag, holding his other set and his firerat.

Happy that he was getting less stares on the street, InuYasha felt strangely pleased with himself, as he still had plenty of money left over for more ramen. He stopped in a store to get some fresh ramen, and decided that the only place he could go is back to the shrine. Sighing deeply, he shuffled his feet back to the house, feeling a familiar melancholy draping over his shoulders.

Night had fallen again, and InuYasha found himself wishing he knew how to turn on the box with moving pictures to entertain him. He tried pressing buttons, throwing things, even threatening the stupid thing, but nothing worked. His face flushed with anger, he sat upon the couch and began reading one of the old mans books, which had been left on the table.

Becoming quite interested in learning about the Japanese history the book talked about, he didn't notice the time slip by until he heard a clock from another house strike midnight. Almost zombie like, he stood up, and marched slowly upstairs.

'Her room again.' he thought absentmindedly as he crouched on the floor and pulled a box out from under her bed.

'What am I doing?'

'You knew it would have to happen sometime. Your going to visit her.'

"Wait." he said out loud. InuYasha looked intensely at the shoe box. A full minute passed without him moving a muscle. His minds was moving so fast that at first when he made his resolution he wasn't sure if it was him or the annoying voice that claimed to be his soul. But, it was decided and for once he didn't feel like arguing the inevitable. InuYasha was almost looking forward to it, and immediately felt sick with himself. His breathed yet another sigh of relief as he left the empty house.

The graveyard Souta had described was only a five minute walk away, but to the hanyou's dismay, it was huge, headstones going on for acres. He felt disheartened at the rows and rows of markers of the dead. As the scent of bones and grave soil assaulted him, he was reminded of Kikyou's walking corpse. He squeezed his eyes shut, and much faster than if it was a thought of Kagome, it was gone.

'You don't really miss them the same way.'

'Shut up.'

'I'm trying to help you understand. The fact that I'm talking to you proves that you aren't going to come to terms with these sort of things yourself.'

'Where were you when I left Kagome alone and unprotected to chase after a rumor of Kikyou?'

'I'm afraid I was confused then as well. More so than you'd ever be willing to admit.'

Sigh 'I'm tired of this. All of these deep thoughts. Why can't it just go back to before I met either of them? All I had to worry about was survival, none of this deep feelings crap.'

'You can do that whenever you let your full demon bloodlust loose. But you never stay that way. I can tell you why, too.'

'Oh?' thought InuYasha, walking down a small pathway and reading all of the names on the gravestones.

'It's because no matter how much it hurts, you want to remember. It's causing you more pain not to be able to look back on the times you shared with her than it's worth to hold them back.'

The hanyou had no reply for himself, and so quelled his own thoughts to dissipate into quite greyness, much like his surroundings. He stopped in front of a particular grave. It wasn't the headstone he was looking for, but there was a small statue perched on top that made his thoughts spring alive again, spinning with memories.

The grave was that of a child. There was a sculpture of an angel, whose wings had been broken off, holding the child in it's arms, and InuYasha was reminded irrefutably of the night of Kikyou's second death. The night sky over him was much like that night, and he remembered their goodbye. For a moment, his minds slowly turned over the events of that night. Holding his first love in his arms, giving her one last kiss as she faded from this life into the next, was all the goodbye he could ask for, and although he did feel the grief, he was also a little happy that she had moved on, finally at peace. His only regret had been that she wouldn't be there for the final battle with Naraku, but his relief overall was unparalleled.

With a blush creeping across his cheeks, he pick up two small triangular rocks on the ground in front of him and set them on the angel's head, mimicking his own ears. Although the comparison was far fetched, he couldn't help but feel a little better.

It took him over an hour to finally find it, but the frustration melted at the sight of the Higurashi name engraved in stone. In truth, he had found the old man's grave at first, but then he saw the stone sitting on the ground near it, with Kagome's name in a thin signature. There was nothing fancy about it other than what was engraved underneath it.

Beloved Daughter, Adored Sister, and Dear Friend.

That did it. At this point, InuYasha no longer cared if anyone saw his weakness, the dam of tears had finally ceased it's leaking and burst in flood. It didn't matter to him at that point that many had considered Kagome a dear friend. It was for him, and woe to the person who tried to say otherwise.

He took the shoe box out from under his arm and opened it, the silent tears still streaming down his face. In it, there were dozens of pictures of him, none of which he knew she had taken with that 'camera' she had told him about. Almost all of them were of him sleeping or lounging in Goshinboku, one of them even in his human form, scowling. There was one that made his heart jump to his throat. She was sitting under the sacred tree, reading a book, while he was up on the highest branch, watching her contentedly.

'Her mother must have taken this one, it's the only one she's in...' he thought distractedly. There was also scrap of his fire rat. He wasn't sure how she had gotten a hold of that, but then again, it wouldn't have been that hard. He probably ripped it in one of his many battles, and by the time she'd picked it up, the robe had already mended itself. Beside the scrap of material was a golden locket. InuYasha thought at first it was the one she had given him before their defeat of the demoness Kaguya, but it was slightly bigger than that one. 'Was she going to give me another one?' he lifted the small necklace out of the box, debating on what to do with it.

He didn't take long, though. Like the first one, he put it around his neck, and held it in his hand for a moment. He knew he wanted to say something else, but his mind was blissfully blank as the tears kept coming. And then he was talking. He was talking and crying more than he could ever remember, to her. With each pause, the wind caressed his face as if she were comforting him, as he confessed his love to her.

"I think I knew the moment you woke me up. I was so filled up with bitterness towards Kikyou that I didn't realize it at first, but it was there. I knew for sure my first human night with you, remember? But I couldn't let you know. You'd be disgusted, like in all the stories whenever the demon would kidnap the princess it fell in love with, just to have her taken away by some handsome warrior. And then you said you loved me back. Those three seconds after we kissed and Naraku hadn't come back to life yet were the happiest I've ever had. You know, I picked out the land we would live on. It was that field, not too far from Goshinboku, so you wouldn't be too far away from the village or the well, but we'd still have our privacy. But I couldn't tell you that until Naraku was out of the way. I couldn't get my own hopes up, anyway. What if you wanted to stay in the future, with your family? What if you got trapped on the other side. What if you loved someone else, I don't know, there were just a million reasons for you to go, and only few to stay, and I was just one of those." he went on like that for a while, a tree nearby shaking it's limbs in agreement.

After telling the breeze all of the plans he had made, and all about his secret passion, the silence that followed was the exact opposite than what he'd thought it would be. It was...awkward. The blush that hadn't burned his face since she was alive had returned as he got the feeling he was being watched. The wind continued to caress his face, but instead of being comforted, he was reminded of Kagura.

InuYasha's senses went into overdrive, but all the feedback he got was that he was alone. He turned back to Kagome's headstone and took out a picture of himself when he was actually smiling,(albeit because he had just swiped an extra bowl of ramen off of Shippou) and placed it in a bushel of wilted flowers beside her headstone. He stood up and took a defensive stance, but felt vulnerable without his firerat. Still, he drew Tessaiga and prepared for an ambush.

"Ha ha ha, still as brutish as ever, eh InuYasha?" said a shrill voice, coming from a squat man hiding behind the tree. The hanyou was baffled as to how the man had evaded his nose, but there was something familiar about him that stopped him from attacking. Instantly, anyway.

"What do you want? How'd you sneak up on me?" he said loudly, arching his eyebrow.

"Come now, InuYasha, don't you recognize me? Surely modern technology hasn't progressed so far that you don't have a clue as to who I am?" the stumpy man snickered. InuYasha's annoyance at being interrupted began to fade away as the recognition washed over him as he looked into the slightly amphibious eyes.

"Jaken?" he said hesitantly, not moving a muscle.

"It seems you are not as stupid as you look. Come with me, my lord wishes to speak with you." he said, turning and marching smartly back towards the city. InuYasha's jaw dropped.

"That asshole's still alive?" he shouted.

"Of corse he is, no thanks to you, ungrateful little-"

"WAIT!! Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me after five centuries, HE'S STILL ALIVE!? WHAT THE HELL?" InuYasha felt his comfort level go from awkward to incredibly paranoid, and began looking wildly about him, expecting his half brother to appear before him with Tokijin, to wield his final blow.

"Quit standing there like a dumb human and follow me!" shouted the increasingly annoyed toad demon.

"And why the hell should I? I'd prefer NOT to get into a life and death battle between me and my asshole brother right now, if that's okay with him." he shouted back indignantly, turning on his heel and marching back towards the shrine house.

"For your information, he doesn't want to fight you, filthy hanyou! As if you'd present a challenge. He wants to speak with you, help you even! You ungrateful wretch, your lucky I don't carry the staff of two heads with me anymore!"

"Help me?"

"Yes, you miserable excuse for a demon, although I'm not sure I'm so inclined to follow his orders at the moment. Perhaps I should let you continue fruitlessly without any information about your quest-"

"Wait, he knows about that?"

"Of corse he does! You idio-"

"Take me to him. NOW!" he shouted, preparing to leap.

"That's what I've been trying to-Ooooooh!" whined the infuriated toad youkai as he ran after the blur of red and dark blue, leaping like a deer between the graves.

"Took you long enough." remarked InuYasha casually leaning against a huge building in downtown Tokyo.

Jaken glared at the boy. He looked like one of those gang hoodlums in his oversized jeans and a black bandana over his ears, looking at him so expectantly while jaken fought for oxygen.

"How...huh...did you...huh...know where...huh huh...to go?" Jaken asked painfully, clutching his heart.

"You insult me. Like I couldn't sniff out my own brother. Guess he's still a stuck up big-shot, huh?" he said, eyeing the huge building, head quarters to Japan's defense secretary, according to the logo above the revolving glass doors.

"You...huh...ought to...huh huh...be...proud...huh...to be...huh huh huh-"

"Alright, alright, don't keel over. So where is he?" said InuYasha, his nose trying to filter out the smell of bacon grease coming from a restaurant across the street.

'Sushi, female, old carpet, sweat, old male...Sesshomaru!' he ears perked up under the black bandana as his nose picked out the discerning scent again.

"How the heck could I have missed him?" InuYasha asked out loud before trying to storm his way through the revolving door.

"He keeps himself hidden. But he wanted to see you, so he removed the technology that hides his scent so you'd recognize him." Jaken's words were lost on InuYasha as he tried to figure out how to get into the building. In place of a regular door, there were four walls of glass in an odd position in his way.

"What the fuck?" he said indignantly, crouching and observing the strange entrance contraption. He reached his hand to the side to have it crushed by an out-coming business woman.

"AHH! FUCK!" he yelled, trying to pry his hand out. It popped out when the woman realized her mistake and pulled the doors backward.

"Oh my goodness, are you alright?" she said, crouching low beside him, peering at his scrapped hand. InuYasha's eyes opened wide as his hand began to heal itself right before her eyes. He couldn't let her see that!

"Yeah, no thanks to you, bitch!" he yelled, wrenching his arm out of her grip. His eyes melted a little when he noticed her resemblance to Kagome's mother. Guilt twinged in the back of his mind as he remembered that he really had tried to lay off the swearing around her.

"Well, I apologize." she said cooly, picking up her briefcase and walking away in a huff. InuYasha watched her as she disappeared into the crowds. His flash of anger had been replaced by remorse, even though woman really had nothing to do with him.

"Damn..." he swore, still sitting on the ground.

"Follow me, you dolt. We'll take the back entrance seeing as revolving doors are beyond your evolution." said Jaken, annoyed. InuYasha thought about coming back with a retort, but decided against it, instead sending a silent prayer to whatever Kami would listen to a hanyou that the woman would not hold a grudge over him.

"He's in there?" InuYasha asked, pointing to a huge oak door at the end of an empty hallway.

"Of corse he is, you can smell him, can't you? Idiot boy..." growled Jaken.

InuYasha took a deep breath. He was glad he'd thought to take Tessaiga with him to the graveyard. He unconsciously tightened his hand around the hilt, and felt his heartbeat speed up with anticipation. The gold handle seemed to foreshadow his brother inside, so regal, and unbearably pleased with itself that the hanyou almost didn't want to touch it.

Before he could reach his hand out, the door opened, and a pretty young woman was startled to see an angry-looking teenage boy in her way.

"Pardon me." she said rudely, moving to the side so she could continue moving. InuYasha stepped out of her way, but feeling her contempt at the world, couldn't help but give her a parting shot.

"Pardon yourself." he said, an evil grin stretching across his face.

"What did you say?" said the woman, freezing in her steps, but not turning around. InuYasha felt his heart drop to his lower regions as he felt a hint of dark miko energy in the woman's aura, much like Tsubaki.

'Aw crap, me and my fat mouth.'

"Nothing." he said quickly, not wanting to get into a fight over a stupid comment. What had gotten into him today? The woman walked away, but not with out a victory flip of her hair.

"It seems you still can't control yourself." said a regal voice. InuYasha turned from the hallway to be face-to-face with his brother. Or, at least, he thought it was his brother.

"You son of a bitch! What the hell are so still doing here! You should have died centuries ago!" he said, taking in his brothers appearance. He now had medium length black hair, and his ear were no longer pointed. The crescent moon was no longer on his forehead, as well as the strips on the side of his face.

'But he still has the same stuck-up face, no matter what.' InuYasha thought evilly.

"It's good to see you too, little brother." he replied monotonously, raising an elegant eyebrow. "I thought you knew it was common sense that youkai age only one year for every fifty human years.

Now that InuYasha looked closely, it did seem that Sesshomaru had aged about ten years. His face wasn't as tight and young as he remembered, but it didn't have any noticeably wrinkles yet, either. He looked to be about thirty-three or thirty-four. Still much younger than most of the men in charge there.

"Hey, you know that woman who just walked out was a-"

"A dark priestess? Yes, of corse I know. She, thankfully, does not. Quite useful, despite the obvious danger..." said Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru turned and led his brother through another empty hallway, this time leading to a door even more grand than the first one. On the other side of the door, there was a great office, not unlike a library with all of the books it held. An oak desk the size of a bed was the center piece of the room. InuYasha watched his brother wearily as he took his place behind it, folding his hands together...hands...WAIT!

"Where'd you get that arm!?" InuYasha said, pointing.

"That is a story for another day, brother. I wish to get-" he said.

"No way! I cut that arm off! Meaning your supposed to be a cripple, no second chances!" he yelled, feeling himself get angrier as his brother's stoic face displayed the tiniest of smirks.

"InuYasha, I wish to help you." Sesshomaru responded simply. His brother stopped his rant immediately, his eyes freezing on the taiyoukai's face.

"Oh really?" InuYasha said suspiciously.

"Yes. You are looking for the miko's reincarnation, are you not?" Sesshomaru said smoothly.

"What of it?"

"Well, I'm sure you'll be glad to know that I know where she is, as well as-"

"And what would compel you do be so helpful, Sesshomaru!?"

"Pure self-preservation, I assure you. I realized some time ago that the events in the past directly effect myself today, and I have no wish to change my circumstances."

"Keh, should've known. So tell me where she is and we can get on with our lives." InuYasha said promptly, crossing his arms in front of him, seeing as he didn't have the sleeves of his fire-rat to hide them in.

"That, I'm afraid I can't do. You see, an unfortunate situation arose not long ago. There are some complications that of which you couldn't have anticipated. I'm afraid you desperately need my help, little brother." Sesshomaru said, as two sets of golden eyes locked on each other.


	4. Chapter 3

One Last Chance: Chapter 3

"Her name is Keera. I'm afraid all we have to go on is significant resemblance to both mikos of your acquaintance, as well as a unique amount of spiritual power, but I'm almost positive the girl is who you seek. She too lived near the shrine. As a matter of fact, were it not for an unfortunate accident, she would have lived in that very house. But I'm afraid fate handed the girl the wrong card." Sesshomaru said solemnly.

"Fate didn't do a damn thing. What happened?" InuYasha said, the former sentence scathing, the latter a bit softer, but not enough to show weakness in front of his brother.

"Her father bore witness to a crime by the Japanese mafia. They, in turn, kidnapped the family, in order to keep it hushed up. As to why they took the entire family, and not just the father, I'm not sure, for normally only punishing the one that poses a threat is their tradition. Less victims, less evidence. I'm afraid the girl watched her pregnant mother and father murdered before her eyes before the police showed up." said Sesshomaru, without a hint of emotion behind his eyes.

"Oh..." murmured InuYasha, stunned. Why would that happen to her? "Poor kid." The hanyou wished he had more to say on the matter, for he too knew what it felt like to see a parent murdered in front of you. The complete horror was too much to bear, and from the sound of it, she had been even younger then himself when it happened. Perhaps he'd be able to level with her, orphan to orphan. That'd sure make it easier to get the girl to go back in time to purify a jewel that she'd probably never heard of.

"So where is she now?" asked half-demon, not looking into his brothers' eyes.

"I...don't know." said Sesshomaru, and InuYasha could have sworn there was a hint of guilt in his voice.

"And why the hell not? Aren't you some big shot with the government now? Isn't that who would take care of her? What the fu-"

"There are complications of which you have no idea, InuYasha. She and her god mother were placed in witness protection, and-"

"Bull! Even if they are protected, from the looks of this place, you should be able to find them easy enough! Hell, I bet they're somewhere in this building!" he said, looking around and sniffing wildly.

"Listen to me, half-breed!" Sesshomaru, the tiniest hint of annoyance at the edge of his voice. "I do not know where she is now, because her file has been given top secret status. The leader of the mafia managed to get away, and might have tried to hunt her down in order to keep his innocence. I managed to speak with her, before she left, thankfully. She revealed to me that she was going to live in America, in a large city. She wasn't able to tell me anything else, of course. That is all I know about her whereabouts, as of yet." Sesshomaru said professionally. "Would you like to see a picture?" he asked, casually this time.

InuYasha thought a moment, and nodded. Sesshomaru reached into a drawer and pulled out an envelope, and handed the topmost paper to his brother.

InuYasha couldn't help but gasp. The resemblance to Kagome was as he said, remarkable, but with a few differences. Her hair hung flat, with no messy bangs to cover her pale forehead. The girl in the picture couldn't have been more than four or five, and yet she held a misery in her eyes much like that of an old woman, who had seen many friends and family pass on without her. She had pale, ashy cheeks, and there were dark circles under her eyes. She looked more than a little skinny and dirty, not to mention a shallow red gash underneath her left eye, and a yellowing bruise on her chin.

"Kama, what happened to her?" said the hanyou, willing with all his might not to feel sympathy for the little girl, which was proving harder and harder with each second he stared back into her hollow eyes.

"That was taken right after we had recovered her. She had been in captivity for about three days. We believe they're weren't given food or water, so that explains the poor state she's in." said Sesshomaru, giving a small throat clearing cough as he noticed his brother's attention being diverted by the picture. "She didn't talk much, after that. I recommended psychological help, but Kama knows if any of these idiots felt like doing the paperwork." said the taiyouaki, not showing any irritability in his cold eyes.

A long silence insured. InuYasha tore his eyes away from the picture of the girl to look at his brother, his brows furrowing in disbelief.

"So you're telling me there's no way to find out where she is?" he said suspiciously.

"I'm afraid there is a reason as to why I can't find her exact whereabouts. I have been accused of having dealings with the Japanese mafia, and therefore been restricted from files concerning them." he said primly.

"Are those accusations true?" InuYasha asked, irritated beyond belief.

"That is of no importance." said Sesshomaru nonchalantly. "Now, it has become obvious that you are going to need my help. But I do not have the time nor patience to give you all the help you need. But I do have the resources." said Sesshomaru. Something told InuYasha that his brother would have been smiling had not it's only meaning was that someone was about to die.

A young man walked out of a door behind the oak desk, a sheepish smile on his lips. InuYasha was thinking there was something vaguely familiar about the boy before he opened his mouth.

"Konichiwa, InuYasha-sama. I am Hikuraro Hiro. I'll be helping you find the miko." he said, cheerily yet still staying formal. InuYasha stood up and walked over to the boy. He saw that his face paled, and his scent escalated with fear. The hanyou towered over him, and gave a huge sniff of the boy's hair. He could sense that he wanted to turn tail and run, but InuYasha admired his bravery. That didn't stop him from glaring menacingly down his nose. There was something familiarly distasteful about him that he couldn't quite but his finger on, it was so faint.

"InuYasha, if you would step away from Hiro-chan for a moment, I'm sure you'd like to know why I've introduced you two." InuYasha reluctantly took one step back, still glaring at him. He had to repress a grin as he watched the beads of sweat down Hiro's temple. "Hiro is going to be staying with you while you search for the miko. He'll help you fit in to the modern society. He has studied modern socialization and psychology; he speaks a total of seven languages fluently, not to mention he's received specialized when it comes to working with youkai." Sesshomaru recited, looking slightly bored.

"You don't look old enough to have done all of that." InuYasha replied scathingly, having yet to take his eyes off the now trembling boy. He was starting to have fun, scaring the crap out of the kid. "You can't be anymore than sixteen."

"You'll forgive me saying, but...uh...you don't look any older than seventeen, yourself. For someone who defeated the hanyou Naraku, th-that is." Hiro stuttered, trying to draw himself up to his full height, which wasn't very impressive.

"I'm older than your great-great grandfather, baka."

"InuYasha, please sit down." said Sesshomaru said, gesturing back to the chair. "Your scaring him much more than necessary." he said, although obviously just as amused as the hanyou at the boy's terror. Some things never change.

"So, until you and the miko are prepared to go back to the past, you will be lodging with him. He is being paid heftily to help you in any way, so you may ask of him basically whatever you please-"

"Go get me some food!" barked InuYasha, eager to test his new power.

"I, uh, that's not really what he meant by-" Hiro froze immediately when he heard a menacing growl coming from the boy across from him. He jumped and scampered out of sight.

Sigh "That was not necessary in the least. Acting like an animal will get you no where in this world." said the taiyoukai.

"I'm not looking to get anywhere but to that girl." he said, trying to sound as distant as possible, but was also quelling the desire to pull the picture out from his pocket and look into her eyes again.

"InuYasha, you don't seem to understand what lies ahead of you, so I suppose it's left to me to spell it out. She moved to the other side of the earth. Don't ask me about it, just listen." he said, raising a hand to stop InuYasha's question about the shape of the earth. "You are going to be looking for her in major cities, and you have no idea where to look because she is using an name that neither of us knows. You will have to learn to read and speak in English, a language incredibly different from that of which you are used to as well as very difficult to master. Look at me, brother." Sesshomaru said, glaring at the hanyou. "This is going to take years.

"As of now, I have an agent in every major city in America, looking for the girl. I've had no luck, but she is probably still in hiding, as the incident only occurred four months ago. I can only spare one agent per city. You will be searching the cities thoroughly for her; Kami knows when you might happen to come upon her. Are you prepared to do this?" he asked, as dead serious as he ever was.

InuYasha thought for a moment, and replied, almost with a smirk. "Keh, I ain't got nothing better to do, anyway."

"So what do you know about me?" asked InuYasha, looking intently, if not more kindly, at Hiro, who was bustling around their temporary apartment.

"Well, Sesshomaru-sama has informed me of your dealings with all manner of demons, your heritage, your relationships with both the mikos Kikyou and Kagome, not to mention Kaede, as well as the monk Miroku and the demon slayer Sango. I know that you defeated the dark hanyou Naraku, and helped save Japan. I know that the miko Kagome traveled back and forth through time though the Bone Eaters' Well on the shrine grounds. I actually had the pleasure of meeting her, once, although I doubt she'd have mentioned it, I was only passing her in the street, and-"

"Okay, okay, that's enough, I get it, you know all about me. Any reason why my bastard half-brother told you about all of this crap?" InuYasha asked irritably.

"Well, I've been working under Sesshomaru-sama for about two years now, after I finished collage. He's been working and taking care of my family for five centuries." he said, looking at the hanyou very meaningfully, as if willing him to remember something long since past.

InuYasha narrowed his eyes when the boy mentioned five centuries. Now that he thought about it, there was something very, very familiar about his smile.

"Lecher?!" he shouted, startling the boy into dropping a pile of books. Hiro turned to him slowly, a mischievous smile playing on his lips.

"Is that what you called my ancestor? I assume you had a better nickname for the demon slayer, my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother." he said, his mouth stretching even wider in that familiar, lecherous grin. InuYasha was a little creeped out by the resemblance to the houshi.

"Stop smiling like that. You know it's pretty bad when you can creep out a hanyou." he said, then wincing when he remembered the last person he had said that too. InuYasha reached into his pocket and pulled out the picture of the girl, Keera.

He had seen pictures of Kagome when she was little, marveling at the perfection of the snapshots more than what she and her family looked like, and this girl, were it not for the hair, could not only easily pass, were they to switch, he doubted if even her mother would be able to tell the difference, save for her eyes.

InuYasha frowned at her eyes. They looked colder and more deadened than even Kikyou's eyes, when she walked the earth as a corpse. He could almost feel the horrors that she had seen through that stare.

'Whatever I do, I can't even like her, not even a little.'

'What on earth are you talking about?' asked his inner voice.

'I can't get attached to her, at all. I'm not so naive that I don't think I won't start to like her, feel sympathy for her, even if she is just a kid. It's Kagome, for cryin' out loud! Everyone...everyone who gets close to me, like Kikyou, Kagome...my mother...gets hurt. I'm not going to let that happen to this one. She'll purify the jewel, and then go back to living the life she started. That's all that is going to happen. I'll treat her like I should have treated Kagome the whole time. A jewel collector, nothing more. And I'll be nothing more than her protector.'

'Will you not even allow yourself to become friends?'

"Well, I guess I'll have to be nice at first. It's not like I can just walk up to her and say 'Hey, you're a reincarnated priestess from five hundred years ago. You need to jump through a well and go back in time with me so you can purify a jewel that doesn't have anything to do with you personally. Let's go."

"I'm sure there will be ways to present her with this knowledge, without making yourself look crazy." said Hiro. InuYasha looked at him as if he were some kind of freak. Had he said that last part out loud? Aw, crap, he's going to have to watch himself from now on.

"We can only hope. So..." that hanyou leaned forward, glaring at the boy. "Do you have any spiritual powers?" he asked casually.

"As a matter of fact, I do. I plan to go to a monastery once my mission with you is complete." he smiled.

"Yeah, Miroku had a lot of spiritual power, despite the whole lecher thing. It only figures he'd breed a bunch of monks." he said, leaning back into the armchair and closing his eyes.

"Well, actually, my family consists mostly of-"

"Enough chit-chat for tonight, I'm gonna get some sleep. Wake me up when it's time to leave." he said irritably.

"Gomen, leave? We aren't going anywhere." Hiro said.

"What do you mean? We have to get to the other side of the world, don't we? Isn't that where she is? And as for this thing taking years, I highly doubt that. If I could just get a hold of something that was hers, I'd be able to track her down. It'd take me two weeks, at the most." he said confidently.

"First of all, we're not leaving until you can speak fluent English. You won't be able to do anything without it. And think about it. The girl is five years old. Do you honestly think that she's ready to resume her priestess duties, especially after what happened to her?"

"Are you saying that I should just wait around for her to grow up? Fat chance! The minute I find her, she going down the well and finishing it. After that, I'll stay in the Feudal era, and she'll go back to whatever she was doing, end of story. Sound good to you?" InuYasha all but yelled, anger flaring for no reason.

"Are you saying that you'd be able to take a child away from her home after her old life just got smashed to pieces? She's been though a horrible traumatic event. Also, there seems to be a factor you haven't considered." he said, turning his back to InuYasha. The hanyou growled, forgetting for a moment that Hiro was a human boy and didn't mean to appear as if he was turning away from him.

"HEY! Don't turn your back on me! What do you mean a factor?" he asked, feeling a little ashamed as Hiro turned back towards him with a map in his hands.

"You don't seem to realize how huge the range in which she could be is." he spread out the map on the coffee table in front of them. "That," he pointed to a minuscule island to the far right of the map. "is Japan." InuYashas' eyes almost popped out of his head.

"Ain't no way it's that small!" he said, ears turning and twisting as someone stomped around on the floor above him.

"I'm afraid it is. You see, that's the mainland." he said pointing to China. "And that country right there," Hiro pointed to a land on the opposite side of the map. "Is America. See how big it is compared to Japan? It'd be nearly impossible to track her down by scent alone."

"No shit. It'll be impossible period to find anyone. Is this all you can narrow it down to?"

"Well, the girl mentioned that she would be living in the city with her godmother. Sesshomaru-sama mentioned that he had agents in every major city on the lookout for her, so that'll help out a lot. They'll be reporting back to us with all possibilities, so that ought to help narrow it down quite a bit." he said, marking places on the map with a red marker.

"Woah. We have to go to all of those cities? Where the hell do we start?" said InuYasha, feeling overwhelmed. He saw how many dots there were. How many people were there?

"We start, my companion, by teaching you English." said Hiro, smiling widely. "You will not be able to search effectively speaking only Japanese. It is just as well that I will have to teach you how they do things in America. You think things are strange in this time, InuYasha-sama? Wait until you see the women there! Oh man, I can't wait to see the look on you face-"

"Oh no, not another one!" InuYasha groaned. "Are you telling me you're a lecher, too? Come ON!" he said, exasperated.

"InuYasha-sama, I am offended. I would never stoop to lecherous behavior towards women. That is a trademark that hasn't been associated with my family in over-"

"Can it, alright. I can smell it on you. Your just like the bouzo. Can't believe he actually produced a whole army of him, that Sango must have-"

"You are getting the wrong impression, InuYasha-sama. At least, ahem when it comes to the contents of my family. I'm actually the first male to be born in the family bloodline in three generations. My family is a well know female demon exterminator company. Right now they're working towards switching to teaching self-defense classes based off of demon slaying techniques, but they're still very well known for their business among upper class demons like Sesshomaru-sama. I can only say that the Kami have decided to punish our family by giving us only women, but one male is produced every once and a while, to keep the family name alive, so I suppose I don't have room to complain." Hiro sighed bitterly. "Growing up surrounded by women who're all tougher and stronger than you is no easy feat, InuYasha-sama."

InuYasha considered giving him a piece of his mind about crappy childhoods, but decided against it, considering he was feeling a little drowsy for a reaming. Reclining in the armchair, he voiced his last thoughts.

"So you're saying as soon as I can speak their language, we can go find her?" he asked.

"Yes InuYasha-sama. Be prepared, it is an incredibly difficult language. You will have to work to restrain your frustration. It took me over a year to master it. Of course, I was also mastering French, computer technology, sacred mantras, and the breeding patterns of inu youkai at the same time. You will only be focusing on learning the language. I promise that we will go to look in the first city the moment you can carry a proper conversation, and we will continue your studies there, alright?" Hiro asked kindly.

"Keh, whatever. I don't really see the point. She can speak Japanese, can't she? She was born here..." he said trailing off.

"Yes, but it will take knowledge of the native language in order to converse with the people who are close to her, as well." Hiro, obviously beginning to tire as well. "Trust me, you be glad you did it." he yawned and turned to go to bed, a mat on the floor in the corner.

"Feh." was the last noise made that night.

Hiro was very impressed. From what Sesshomaru-sama had told him, InuYasha-sama was rumored to be rather strong, but not the brightest one could find. And yet in only a month, he had nearly mastered the English language. Hiro thought it had a lot to do with the American wrestling and detective shows the hanyou had taken to watching every night, and the outcome was amazing. InuYasha was even managing to rid himself of his heavy accent, casually spilling out the foreign words like water from a spout.

Said hanyou had just finished reciting the prelude to the Constitution of the United States flawlessly, looking rather bored. InuYasha looked wistfully out the window. It had been incredibly tiresome to stay inside all day. He had taken to going out at night in his fire rat and just running among all of the buildings, only to be seen at the first glance and gone by the second. Sesshomaru had also given him a private weight room nearby in which to keep his strength by lifting thousands of pounds when strong humans might be able to manage a hundred, although it had none of the same satisfaction as killing thirty-foot tall demons. Yes, no doubt about it, this world was incredibly boring.

Learning English hadn't been as big of a deal as Hiro seemed to think. InuYasha had decided early on to get it over with as soon as possible instead of fighting it, so that's what he did. He had been relieved to know that they only had twenty-six writing characters that got rearranged, instead of a few thousand or so, like he expected. After that, it came to him naturally. He became quickly fascinated by the American detectives on TV, who spent their time trying to figure out who killed who, which InuYasha found, if pointless, quite amusing. As for the showy wrestling shows, he had to contain his laughter at the fake violence, But he did pick up a few moves that would be quite destructive if done properly.

"I'd say you'd be perfectly ready by next week, what do you think?" asked Hiro. InuYasha snapped out of his daze, having not realized that the boy had been talking at him for the past five minutes while he stared off into space. He was finally becoming used to the boys company, after five years of wandering around alone. Granted, he didn't think he'd ever get used to living in this era, but he could tolerate it now, at least.

"Keh, it is about time." InuYasha replied in English, showing off his prowess.

"Remember what I told you about conjunctions? They sound much better. Instead of saying 'it is' you say 'it's'. Not much of a difference, I know, but those American's don't like to waste any time. So, which city would you like to start in? We can get a list of all the girls her age in the city, and start from there. I suppose we can go-"

"Screw next week, I say we go now." said InuYasha, flipping on the TV. Hiro froze and stared off into space for a moment, and suddenly said

"Now? Yes, now...hmm...alright, now it is. Pack your clothes, we'll head to Seattle first thing!" he cried enthusiastically. InuYasha turned around and gave Hiro a rather creeped out look, but shrugged it off and went to go pack his things.

"Ha. You know, I'll never truly surprise you, will I?" Hiro asked, a crooked smile on his face.

"Not really." InuYasha replied simply. 'There was only one who could ever surprise me.' he thought, turning his head down, thinking perhaps he'd go visit Kagome's grave before he left, just like he did every night so far.

(Author's note)

Okay, little update after I discovered how to read reviews ( I know, I'm a noob, please don't through anything. First of all, thank you all of you who left a review. To answer a few questions, no, InuYasha will not be seeing Souta or Mama Higurashi any time soon (I don't plan on him ever seeing them again, but my muse is incredibly unpredictable.)

For those of you reading this chapter for the first time, I know InuYasha seems a little OOC, but think about it. Pretty much everyone he really, truly loved has been killed. (I've been basing this a little off of the manga, a little off of the show. Ayame will be here, unlike in the manga, but I'm keeping it as close to the manga as possible. This is including (SPOILER ALERT!!) Kikyou's death as dictated NOT BY ME, but by Rumiko Takahashi herself.) So yeah, he's been in hiding for the past five years, in a deep depressive/violent state. Any other questions please leave a review and I'd be happy to update. I truly love you guys!


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha and co. I'm just borrowing them. Their mental state upon their return is not my fault.

Songs: She loves You-The Beatles  
Welcome to the Black Parade-My Chemical Romance

One Last Chance: Chapter 4

"Ten years." InuYasha thought, shivering a little in the frosty air. "Ten fucking years."

He was walking in Times Square, with nothing but a T-shirt on his torso in the middle of March.

"A really fucking cold March." he thought angrily, looking longingly at a cozy-looking coffee shop.

He had spent the last ten years in America, jumping from city to city, clearing every one of any trace of the miko girl. He had also watched as Hiro grew in front of him, aging every day, as his life passed him by.

"Bouzo, you should just go live your life, I can handle this on my own, now." the hanyou had said to the boy, who looked much physically older than him now, the night before. Hiro was bustling around, cleaning the hotel room as he did every night.

"I promised to help you. Besides, I think we're closing in on her. It's only a matter of time since we found out she's definitely here in New York. I don't know why I didn't insist on coming here in the first place. If there were anyplace to be, this is it! Anyway, we're almost three quarters of the way through the list of girls in the city. I'm confident we will find her soon, InuYasha-sama." Hiro said approvingly. The truth was that he too had begun losing hope. The fact that they now new for sure she was in New York hadn't really heightened his spirits as much as he thought it would. But he wouldn't let InuYasha know that.

Hiro visibly sighed. He had thought that they would have found a trace of her by now, at least. Surely fate would have intervened by now, bringing the two friends together. He looked over at his counterpart, who had not aged or changed a bit in all the time he had spent with him. Hiro smiled at some of the times he had with the hanyou. One of his favorites was when he had first introduced InuYasha to tequila, hoping to get him into a more revealing/talkative mood. Instead, he had found out that hanyou didn't take their liqueur well, and had to restrain him from pounding a man to a bloody pulp for looking at him funny.

Hiro turned to see the hanyou sitting on the window seat and looking wistfully at the horizon. InuYasha had always seemed to be a man of few words, and growing up at his side was a quite life. True, there were times where his temper got the best of him and he ended up injuring someone, but with this new, less pressing mission, he found that he was on edge less and less, unlike when he was hunting jewel shards. His reflexes and strength never left him from the constant training he underwent with the special youkai dojos he signed up for. InuYasha was rather surprised at how many youkai and hanyou were still running around. Many, like Jaken and Sesshomaru, used a mixture of technology and glamour magic to disguise themselves as humans. (InuYasha didn't bother, preferring to simply keep a bandana on, his fanged mouth shut, and his clawed hands in his pockets.)

But there was no denying that he never got attacked anymore, not even mugged when he went for lonely walks in Central Park in the middle of the night. And that was just not his style.

"Perhaps tomorrow will be the day, InuYasha?" Hiro said, as he did every night. To his surprise, the hanyous' ears perked a little, instead of their usual drooping at the mention of their constant search.

"It'll be her fifteenth birthday, tomorrow..." he said to himself, feeling an unfamiliar bubble of hope in his chest. "That's how old Kagome was when I met her."

Hiros' eyebrows furrowed in thought. He too felt a little hope that maybe fate would finally take place, no matter what the skeptical InuYasha said.

'No, no, that would just be too convenient.' he thought, quashing his hope as quickly as it had come.

So here InuYasha was, once again just scanning the crowds as he usually did on his days off. He had recently decided that merely tracking every girl on the list until he got a good look at her face wasn't enough. He began taking a day off every once and a while and just walking around the city, keeping his senses wide open, hoping against hope that perhaps she would just walk into him.

'The good thing about Times Square,' he thought with a smirk as a pair of brightly clothed teenagers walked passed him with giant boa constrictors on their shoulders. 'Is that everyone here is such a freak already, no one notices me.'

InuYasha scowled at a gay couple passing by, feeling a little reminded of Jakotsu. He shuttered.

A half hour later, and he was in the park again. He felt a little relaxed in the almost forest-like setting, and began to feel the temperature rise a little, like the weather had promised.

"I've never been here this early before." he said idly, wondering into the area in which their were many college students sitting around, studying. He took his place at his favorite park bench, and looked at the dead trees, and as usual, began thinking about Kagome.

'Do yo think she would have liked it here?' his inner voice wondered, echoing in the back of his mind.

'Probably. It's just like Tokyo. 'Cept the people are ruder.'

'It seems you can't get her off your mind anymore.'

'No thanks to you.'

'I bet she wished she could've had a goodbye like Kikyou did.'

'That's a terrible thing to think.'

'And yet you do.'

sigh 'I wish I had.'

'When she was alive.'

'And not almost turning into a blood thirsty demon.' he thought, remembering the incident with Kaguya. Miroku just had to bring it up at the wrong moment, didn't he? InuYasha had thought about perhaps telling Kagome his true feelings, had it not been for his promise to Kikyou which was still valid, at the time.

He wondered for a moment why he had not said anything to her after Kikyous death, but reflected that between that time and the battle with Naraku, the opportunity had never really presented itself.

InuYasha sighed, berating himself that he had never really tried. The very thought of revealing his feelings to the woman turned his knees to liquid. InuYasha snorted at himself.

'The guy who can slice off a gigantic dog demons arm (who also just so happens to be his brother) without flinching turns into a spineless jellyfish at one look from a helpless woman. Yeah, that sounds about right.' For once, he was not disgusted at that particular weakness. Over the years, he was beginning to come to terms with his human half, despite its limited expression.

'Still, I never knew if she actually loved me, or if she just said that to snap me out of my little fit. I know she cared about me a lot. She'd have to be some kind of idiot not to have some kind of clue how I felt, even if I never said it. Even if I never said it to myself. She knew me better than anyone, so she'd have to know that that's just not the kind of thing I'd come out and say. At least, it used to be like that. I don't really have a problem admitting it to myself now, at least. Keh, well, too little, too late. Oh gods, this era is making me so soft.'

InuYasha herd a distinctly quiet and small person sit down opposite of him, back to back. The persons closeness to him irritated him, but then again, so did a lot of the things people in this city do.

"Hey! Betty Lou! I wondered were you went! Where've you been?" shouted one of the studying students. InuYasha smelled the reaction of the person beside him as she heard her name called. He was launched back into his thoughts before he heard the low, smooth voice answer.

"I had to take a couple days for myself. But I'm back, now. I'm assuming you'll want your song in exchange for my absence, eh Jerry?" she said playfully. InuYasha still stared off into space.

'I wish I could just get some sort of clue of what the hell was going on inside her head when she looked at me...'

At that moment, InuYasha felt as if he had been electrocuted by one of those stupid outlets again. A voice reached out to him like an aura, and the next second he realized that he recognized that aura.

"No...no fucking way..." he said to himself, not daring to turn around as he heard the strum of an acoustic guitar.

"She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah. She loves you yeah, yeah, yeah. She loves you yeah, yeah, yeeeaaaahhh." sang out the voice, clear as a bell and just loud enough to reach the ears of all in the clearing.

InuYasha's eyes bulged out of their sockets as he jumped up from his seat on the picnic on the table, trying to gain his composure before he faced her. Her strumming was precise yet gentle, and the familiar pink aura was clearly visible to him, if not to any of the humans in the clearing.

He felt his heart in his throat. It looked as if she had never cut her hair in her life, as it made a waterfall down her back and pooled around the table where she sat, a style InuYasha was used to, but rather odd and bothersome in this era. He could see she had a very pale face, a feature also considered beautiful in his time, but sickly and gross in this, as far as he could tell. Her fingers were long and elegant, if a little too thin and spindly. It seemed as if she was Kagome's copy, except stretched out, like a rope pulled taunt. She was defiantly taller, but her shoulders were hunched, so he doubted that it would make much of a difference.

"You think you've lost your love? Well I saw her yesterda-y-ay. It's you she's thinkin' of, and she told me what to sa-y-ay. She said she loves you! And you know that can't be baaaad!" she sang, still focusing on her guitar. InuYasha still stood, feeling the urge to run and jump away. Instead, he stood his ground and watched her intently, even being so bold as to take a step towards her.

He was startled by a growl by her feet. To his surprise, a huge German Shepard was growling at him, although she was not sitting in a defensive position. InuYasha smirked. All dogs new the son of an Inu no Taisho when they smelled them. Still, he understood the canines apprehension, even if the beast knew to show respect. He was just some random guy walking up to her mistress. He gulped as he tried to come up with something to say.

"With a love like that, you know you shouououould...be GLAD!" the girl finished, smiling at the applause that rang out across the field. "Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeaaaah!"

As she ran a piece of plastic across the strings for the last note, she looked up, and caught his gaze for the first time. The German Shepard stopped growling, and the girl broke her gaze immediately to look down at her questioningly.

"Wow, she sure has taken a liking to you. Normally when people stop and stare like that, she'd be creeping in close for a bite on the leg!" she said, looking into his eyes again.

InuYasha had to keep a whine from escaping his throat. Her eyes were almost as deadened and cold as in the picture he carried around with him, a tragic past hidden deep in her irises. And yet...there was still a light in her pupil, no matter how much misery she had seen, and he was positive now that she had seen more horrors than the death of her parents. She narrowed her eyes a little.

"Hey! Take a picture, it'll last longer." she said, and turned back to her guitar, before raising her head to shout out to the multitude of students. "I bet you guys would like to here my acoustic version of Black Parade?" she shouted playfully, and to InuYasha's elation, a happy gleam twinkled in her eyes. When a bunch of kids yelled back her reply, she crinkled her nose at the sound of a few of them groaning.

"And for those of you who are too good for pop punk, please shut up, stuff your fingers in your ears, and enjoy!" she shouted out, eyeing a few individuals in particular who seemed less than pleased at her selection.

She began with a simple tune, slow and steady. Then, she sang along with her hands.

"When I was, a young boy, my father, took me in-to the city. To see a marching band. He said son when, you grow up, would you be, the savior of the broken, the beaten and the damned? Because one day, I'll leave you, a phantom, to lead you in the summer, to join the Black Parade." she sang, and a few of the kids got up from their studies to stand around her and watch.

At first, InuYasha had raised his eyebrow when she referred to herself as a boy. But as she sang on, he couldn't help but think about how the song seemed to be a little about him, as self-centered as that sounded. His father had never taken him anywhere (seeing as he had died to night he was born), but in a way, The Inu no Taisho had asked him to be a savior, by leaving him Tetsusaiga. The sword itself was like a phantom of his old man's strength, and it had lead him through many summers, some happy, but most lonely and pining. He sighed. He hated admitting things like that to himself.

He looked up as her fingers began to quicken their pace. She was smiling now, and he felt an indescribable excitement quicken the heart beats of the kids around him.

"Sometimes I get the feeling, she's watchin' over me. And other times I feel like I should go. But through it all, the rise and fall! The bodies in the streets! And when your gone we want you all to know...

"We'll CARRY On! We'll CAR-Ry O-o-on. And though your dead and gone, believe me, your memory will CARRY ON! We'll CAR-Ry O-o-on. And in-my-heart I can't contain it, the anthem won't explain it!"

The kids around him began jumping up and down with the rhythm. Now, the unexplainable but unavoidable thick scent of excitement in which he had never witnessed before seeped around him like fog on a lake. He began to back himself into the crowd, feeling the bizarre need to be part of it. There was no denying it, that last part of the song...well, he might as well have written it about himself and Kagome. It just seemed to fit, too perfectly. He frowned at this thought.

"And we will send you reeling, from decimated dreams. Your misery and hate will kill us all. So paint it black and take it back, and let's shout it loud and clear! Do you fight it to the end? We hear the call...

"To CARRY ON! To CAR-Ry O-o-on. And though you're dead-and-gone, believe me, your memory will CAR-Ry ON! We'll CAR-Ry O-o-on! And though your broken and defeated, your weary widow MAR-CHES ON!"

'Damn it! If I wasn't such a sap...that part wouldn't remind me of Kikyou.' he thought to himself, as he thought of the wayward glances he would sometimes get from her when she saw him standing next to Kagome. How she tried to drag him to hell while he was asleep in her arms. Scenes of moments like that ran though his head, and he put his hands to it to try and quell the memories.

He remembered how, after Kagome had broken the spell on him, he would just think about Kikyou. About their promise, which he had broken. And about Kikyou herself, who he might as well have killed. Sometimes, when he was sitting by himself, he would go over all of time they spent together, all of the loneliness she had quelled. She had been the only one since his mother to accept him, to like him even. He had been convinced she loved him, and at times he would have traded Tessaiga to find out if she truly did.

And yet, after her death, he also couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief with her as she faded away into dust, a normal woman. Still, he mourned the loss of his first love, even if it was not truly her.

Yes, despite whatever anyone else thought, he knew that the clay copy was not the true Kikyou, that she did die fifty years ago. But the reminder wandering around had never given him a chance to grieve, as he had wanted to. Whenever he saw the soul collectors, a microscopic bubble of hope would form in his chest, hoping that maybe, by some stupid, impossible circumstance, he still would be able to be with his first love.

But when she died her second death in his arms, he realized that his hope had been false, nothing more than a fantasy that he didn't really even want anymore, anyway. And while he grieved, he was happy.

"And on we carry through the fears! (Oh, oh, ooh, the crowd sang along) Disappointed faces of your peers! (Oh, oh, ooh) Take a look at me, cause I could-not-care-at-ALL!

"Do-or-DIE! You'll never MAKE me, because the WORLD will never take my heart-You can TRY! You'll never make me. Want it all! I'm gonna play this part-Won't explain, or say I'm SOR-ry! I'm not ashamed! I'm gonna show my scar to the CHAIR! For all the BRO-Ken! Listen HERE! Because it's ON-ly! I'm just a MAN! I'm not a HE-Ro! Just a BOY! Whose meant to SING this SONG! Just a MAN, not a HE-Ro! I...don't...CARE!

"Carry ON! We'll CAR-Ry O-o-on. And though your dead and gone, believe me, your memory will CAR-Ry on! We'll CAR-Ry O-o-on! And though you're broken and defeated, your weary widow MAR-CHES ON!" she sang out, her voice ringing throughout the field. The crowd sang out the rest of the song, shouting back 'Carry on!' off key, and out of tune, which bothered InuYasha's ears, which were flattened to his head.

"Thank you New York! I'll be here all week!" she laughed, and to InuYasha's joy, the laughter in her voice reached her eyes as the kids gave a cheer and congratulated her on her prowess. The excitement died away, and the kids scattered, as she settled down for quieter, less riot-causing songs.

InuYasha backed into a tree, and in one swift movement, he was in the branches, watching over her. He got an intense feeling of deja vu as he moved to do this, but it disappeared as he looked down on the girl. She was strumming a wordless song now, and he was relaxed by it, as it reached into his ears and willed him to sleep. He nodded as he thought about how he hadn't really slept all his life, not counting when he was with his mother.

'Wait, that's not exactly right. I slept for real one time, on Kagome's bed.' He blushed at the memory. Her scent had just been so calming, he couldn't help himself but feel relaxed. That was another thing he had never done with Kikyou.

But that was after he had known Kagome for a long time, and had even begun realizing he feelings for her. His head snapped back up. He hadn't even spoken a word to the girl and already she was lulling him to sleep!

The girl, he noticed, was sneaking glances in his direction now, although he was pretty sure she couldn't see him. He smirked at this thought. Perhaps he had left enough of an impression on her soul for her to recognize him, if only a little.

'That's exactly what you need right now. An ego boost.'

InuYasha growled.

'Don't you feel that tugging in the back of your head?' his inner voice asked. Over the years the voice seemed to separate from him so much that he thought that perhaps he had some kind of nagging parasite instead of his soul talking to him.

'Come to think of it, yeah I do.' InuYasha closed his eyes shut and concentrated. The tug was fearful, familiar, and almost forgotten. InuYasha opened his eyes and looked toward the girl still concentrating on her guitar. His face blanched with the biggest amount of amazement he had felt in a long time.

'Whoa! Holy shit! Holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit! She's trying to reach out to me with her aura! What the fuck?' InuYasha had to clamp a clawed hand over his mouth to make sure he didn't shout out to her. He turned around on his branch and stared straight ahead, panting slightly. He noticed a young boy looking up at him with concern. InuYasha sent him his favorite scowl, and to his pleasure, it scared the boy enough to make him get up and scurry away.

'I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay' he chanted to himself, struggling to regain his composure. 'Alright. She can use her aura. I doubt she knows she's doing it, though. Yeah, she's still untrained. Ain't no way she's got any clue. I'll have to tell her soon though, if she can already do that. Kagome was never able to do that. I think Kikyou could, but she had only done that the time when she had asked him to turn human for her.

He looked up, and noticed something he hadn't before, when the crowd of kids were still around her.

Their was an open guitar case in front of her, and on the bottom it was littered with money. His eyes widened as an old couple passing by dropped a few dollars into it.

"She's a beggar?" he said to himself, eyes widening in confusion. In Sengoku Jidai, it didn't matter if you were performing entertainment in exchange for money. If you were on the street and accepting handouts, you were a beggar. And if you were a woman, it also meant that you were a prostitute. (I don't know if that's true. Anyone with a clue, feel free to message and flame me!) InuYasha growled at that thought. A miko and a prostitute shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence.

Deciding that he would just wait until she was done, (and to make sure no one got the idea that she was selling her body just because she was accepting handouts) he settled himself into a more comfortable position, keeping his senses wide open as he tried to ignore the slight pull of her aura on his youki, the energies rubbing and nipping at each other. InuYasha fought down a blush.

She sat on the park bench for three hours, her dog sitting faithfully at her feet the entire time, never moving from her mistress. Almost everyone who passed by stopped to listen and leave her a dollar or two before walking on. Eventually, it seemed her fingers got tired, and she finally finished, giving a sigh of relief.

'Keh. Almost like she just got out of the fields.' thought InuYasha, then gritting his teeth in annoyance as she took out a text book and began studying. It always irritated him to no end whenever Kagome would pay more attention to a stupid book more than him.

'Well, might as well get this over with.' he thought as he leaped nimbly down from his perch. He strode confidently over to her, and took a seat across the table, looking at her intently until she decided to acknowledge him.

She sat still for a few moments, and looked slowly up at him. He opened his mouth to say something, but was taken aback at the close look at her face, which he realized he didn't really see until now.

Her eyes were so thick with darkened circles from lack of sleep, it looked as if her eyes were receding back into her head. Her cheeks were sunken in, and her skin was dry and what at first had looked like a lovely pale face turned out to be a sickly yellow sheen. What surprised and disgusted him the most were her lips. They were red and cracked, and had blackened scabs dividing them into mangled sections. She gave him a sideways grin when she saw how intently he was staring at her. Although her teeth were straight and white, he could see that more than one of them were cracked. But her hair was the most beautiful he had ever seen. He himself had seen his fair share of hime's, many of whom claimed to have the most beautiful hair. But the girl in front of him could easily out win them, were it not for her beggars appearance.

She wore a simple white t-shirt with some sort of logo on it, with a black jacket over it, along with oversized black jeans with holes in them. He could tell from the smell that although they were not filthy, they were not exactly fresh, either. She seemed to notice him wrinkling his nose.

"You gonna say something or are you just gonna sit there lookin' pretty?" she said, not able to take his silent scrutinizing anymore. He seemed to jerk out of his trance, and looked into her eyes. Looking away before he got drawn in like he did her pictures, he searched his blank brain for an answer.

"Your, aaahhhh...your pretty good." Idiot! She knew that! What the hell was he supposed to say to her? All the years he searched for the girl in front of him, and he had never even considered what he would say during their first conversation! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

She smiled another sideways smile, and InuYasha could feel her aura brighten up.

"Thanks! Corse, I'm afraid your opinion doesn't really matter to Julliard, but it's a start. So, what, are you albino or something? You part of a gang?" InuYasha raised his eyebrow before he noticed she was making fun of his outfit.

"Excuse me?" he said, feeling insulted. What was wrong with his clothes? He'd been wearing basically the same thing for the past ten years, and no one seemed to say anything. In fact, Hiro had mentioned more than once that his clothes suited him well.

"Dude, you look like a bloods reject." she said, pointing to his red shirt and bandana.

"Hey, what's your problem?" he said, getting angry.

"Hey man, not worries. So, did you want something?" she asked, leaning her face on her hand, and for a moment InuYasha saw a flash of recognition across her face as he pouted.

"Do you always pout like that?" she asked, leaning forward and squinting her eyes, as if trying to see something.

"Keh! No! I, ahhh...I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to grab a slice with me?" he finally spat out, thinking that he could buy himself more time. He was amazed at the looked that caught her face. It was a look that had never crossed either Kagome's nor Kikyou's face. He had to think for a moment before the word came to him; utter disgust.

"Ah, no I can't. Sorry, I have to go." she said, picking up her text book and making a small whistling sound to the dog. InuYasha became angry, but then he heard a noise that made his heart drop straight to his lower regions.

Her stomach. It was growling like the stomachs of starving children he'd come across in desolate towns. What surprised him even more was that she had the audacity to not blush, but instead put her head up high and start to walk away, her dog following close behind her.

He took a few long steps to catch up to her, and she looked down at her dog in surprise.

"Well, aren't you friendly today, eh Kyoko?" she spoke to the dog, who looked up at her with a blank face. Not that dogs show that much emotion on their faces, anyway.

"What do you mean?" InuYasha asked, looking questioningly at the dog. The dog responded by continuing to walk forward at an easy pace.

"Normally she would have bitten you by now. You know how many times I had to ask my friend Shelly to bail her out of the pound because she nips? Nothing serious, but she'll only attack if it's real danger and I can't run away." she said, heaving her guitar case over her shoulder.

"Why won't you come get something to eat. I hear your stomach, you're definitely hungry." he asked.

"I don't have any money." she said simply, still not looking at him, and it seemed as if she was trying her best to hold her head even higher, her back as straight as it would go, despite her sloping shoulders.

"What!? What are you talking about? You have a whole case full of money there!" InuYasha said, forgetting that he had planned to pay for her anyway.

"That's not for food. Sorry, but food is last on the list. Besides, how am I supposed to know you aren't going to try and rape me or something?" she asked simply. That question almost made InuYasha fall over. Even though he could tell that she sort of trusted him already by letting him walk with her, he couldn't believe that something like that would come out of the girls' mouth!

"I-wha...uh...yo-you...ugh...I c-can...ARHG! I can't believe you just said that!" he said, feeling his face start to turn a shade roughly matching his fire-rat. To his fury, she shrugged as if she'd been commenting on the weather.

"Hey, can't be too careful. You'd think a big guy like you would know that." She said, giving him the once over. True, he could cut her in half with one swipe of his claws. But InuYasha could never do that, especially someone who used to be...InuYasha gulped...Kagome.

"Look, I'll pay for you, and then you can go home by yourself. I promise." he said, holding his hand up in the boy scouts gesture. He expected her to cave in and continue to walk with him, but instead she made her back as straight as it would go while being weighed down by the guitar case, and continued walking at a faster pace.

"I can get my own food." she said.

InuYasha stopped. He was getting a whole new feeling from her aura. She was lying. Lying? Did that mean that she was going hungry? She did seem to be unusually skinny, but InuYasha had just assumed she did that to her self on purpose, like a lot of the women walking around the city.

Yet, if she was letting herself starve on purpose, wouldn't she be wearing more provocative, revealing clothing than oversized pants and a dirty, ill-fitting jacket, like the idiots on TV? No, there was something horribly wrong with this picture.

"Look, I didn't say anything about you not getting your own food. I want to buy you something to eat, because your hungry right now. Okay? Now quit fooling around and common." InuYasha said irritably, grabbing her arm and dragging her along with him. He was secretly worried at how thin her arm was in his grasp.

"Hey, buddy, I don't know who you think you are, but if you think you can just drag me with you whenever you want, you got another thing coming!" she said, pathetically trying to wrench her arm out of his grip.

"I'm InuYasha, bitch." he said, turning around and looked deeply into her eyes. His heart leaped for joy as another look of recognition jumped across her face, there in a instant and gone in a flash. Maybe this would be easier than he thought. Perhaps if he just kept acting like his usual self around her, he'd be able to convince her to come with him. He was the only constant in her past two lives.

She shook her head, and to his mild surprise, completely disregarded his remark. Kagome would have sat him and taken away his ramen for that night whenever he called her that, but this one shrugged it away, almost as if she was used to it.

'Aw, hell no. Tell me she hasn't always been treated like that.' he thought to himself, with a twinge of guilt now that he'd said it. But then he remembered her appearance, and thought maybe it wasn't so far-fetched. There was obviously something going wrong with her godmother at home, he'd already decided that he was going to look into it as soon as he could.

"Well, I'm Betty Lou. Nice to meet you." she said, not bothering to hold out her hand.

"Look, just come get something to eat with me." he said

"I don't accept handouts." she said, still turning her nose up at him.

"WHAT!? Are you kidding me? What do you call sitting on a park table and letting people give you their spare change while you dick around on that dumb-ass instrument?" he said, raising his hands in the air in frustration.

"Working. I earned that." she said, practically spitting venom in the sentence. Aw, crap, now he'd insulted her.

"Please come with me? As a favor?" he thought, hating himself as he pleaded.

"Give me one reason why I should." she said simply.

"Because your dog is about to keel over, and I'll buy a slice for her, too." InuYasha said, finding her weakness. Betty Lou looked down at the dog with sad eyes, because yes, the dog was very skinny. She glared at him from the corner of her eyes.

"Fine."

InuYasha was impressed. Never before had anyone beaten him in his gusto for food, but he'd finally found a contender. After being so hesitant to come with him, once the smells hit her, she didn't think twice about ordering one of everything on the menu. And now, she was about halfway through her order!

Her dog, Kyoko, was sitting faithfully outside, upright and guarding her master inside.

"So...Betty Lou, huh? That's a pretty unique name." he said conversationally.

"So's InuYasha." she countered, not focusing on him, but her food. Other people in the restaurant were beginning to notice the unusually highly stacked pizza slice container boxes around their table. Not that InuYasha cared. He was actually pretty amused at their stricken faces at seeing the young girl scarf down so much in so little time.

"I don't know...it just sounds kind of...made up." he said, jumping on his chance to reveal a little what he knew to her. He had to resist comforting her as she froze in her feast, fear immediately permeating her scent.

She looked up at him, and stared at him deeply. The fear seemed to melt away as chocolate brown eyes met golden ones. She looked him over. Her eyes lost their deadened look for a moment, and again he saw Kagome slide into her eyes, if only for a moment.

"Can I show you something?" she asked, dead serious. InuYasha nodded. She gathered up her leftovers and stacked the boxes in her arms, intending to bring them home with her. InuYasha followed her out of the store.

"Hey, uh, you want some help with that?" he asked, watching her as she struggled with the pizza boxes and her guitar case once they were outside. She looked up at the sky, which was beginning to get dark. He reached for her case, but felt a small spark as his claw grazed the handle, a second before she jerked it out of his reach.

"I can carry that myself, thanks." she said, turning her nose up again. He was astonished when she handed the dog a few boxes of pizza, and even more so when Kyoko took them in her mouth and began to walk with her master, intent on going home after their long day.

"Jeeze, I was just trying to be nice." InuYasha said, angrily. The girl was infuriating! She was obviously having trouble, couldn't she just accept help when she needed it?

They walked along the streets of New York for about fifteen minutes, before entering the shady, dangerous part of town. InuYasha could feel eyes leering at them from in the dark allies, and instinctively began walking closer to her.

They approached a dirty-looking, decrepit old building. They stayed in silence as they stepped inside, avoiding the angry, greasy looking man at the front desk, and began climbing the steps.

On the third floor, they stopped, and InuYasha followed her to the end of the hallway. She stopped at the last door, and reached above the paneling on top of the door and pulled out a key.

The first thing he thought when she let them into the apartment was the cold. It was much too cold in there. And then, the smell. It wasn't a bad smell. Sort of like the thick perfume of slightly wilted flowers. That and a scrubbed, anti-septic smell.

The place was incredibly tiny. To his left, there was a mini refrigerator and a toaster on a broken counter. There was one and a half stools standing underneath a table that connected to the counter, one of them appearing to have to bottom part of it's legs sawed off. InuYasha took a deep, inhaling breath. Yes, this was Kagome scent. And it was Kikyou's scent, as well. And yet, there was also something mixed into with them that was so undeniably new that it just had to be her, Betty Lou, Keera, whatever her name was.

There were two windows on two different walls, as she lived in one of the corner apartments. The carpet was old and brown, but it was clean. There were posters on the walls, most of them having something to do with one band or another. There was one other door in sight, to his far right. This, he assumed, was her bedroom. Wait. One bedroom.

"Where're your parents?" he asked, before cringing and smacking himself on the forehead.

'Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!' he berated himself.

"They're dead." she said simply, keeping a remarkably Sesshomaru-type look on her face as she said that, bustling around the kitchen, putting the pizza away. She closed the door as she finished, and looked at him expectantly.

"You saying you live here by yourself?" he asked, but he already knew the answer. She didn't have the smell of someone who was being cared for by another. She smelled like someone who had been on her own. For a long time.

"Yup." she said as she picked up a plastic bowl on the floor and put it in the sink, filling it with water for Kyoko.

"No foster parents..." he tried to suggest, and was stricken when pain seeped into her aura, the pain of losing someone.

"She...she taught a survival skills class for the YMCA. They went on a trip to the Rockies about two years ago, and she...she got lost. They never found her." she said, holding back the waterfall of emotions raining in her eyes. InuYasha felt his sympathy well up for her, as well as his respect for her. Not many kids of thirteen would have been able to handle being on their own in this world. It should have been impossible.

"So how have you been-?" InuYasha began, but was cut off.

"I made a deal with the land lord here once I ran away from my first foster home. I pay him fifty dollars a week, I get the room with no heat, and he signs all my forms and acts as a temporary guardian. No one really bothers us, so it's been working out pretty well, I'd say." she said, a distant look in her dead eyes. InuYasha felt his throat clench up. So that was why she couldn't spare any money.

"Alright, I want you to promise me something." she said, grabbing his hand and his attention. "We've never met, right?" she asked, looking into his eyes.

"No." said InuYasha suspiciously.

"Okay, I don't want you to get freaked out, is all. Come in here." she said, leading him towards what he assumed was her bedroom. InuYasha's eyes widened in confusion as she dragged him into her room.

Then InuYasha gasped. Covering every inch of her wall were pictures of him. They were drawings, he saw as he looked closer. They were really good, too. He noticed that in the corner, there was always a tiny BL signature.

Okay, not all of them were of him. There were pictures of Shippou, Sango, Miroku, Kirara, even Kaede! InuYasha leaned forward to look at a very detailed drawing of Kikyou under the moonlight in the middle of a green field, a soul catcher twisting in the air in the background.

"I used to think that one might be a self portrait, but she's too pretty to be me." Betty Lou said.

He stood up straight and found himself looking into his own eyes as a picture scowled at him.

"Look familiar? Freaky, huh?" she said, stepping forward and examining with him. "These are just some characters I've been dreaming up my whole life. I always wanted to write a story to go with them, but I can't write to save my life. That's the reason I decided to show you, anyway. You look a lot like him. Like, a lot!" she said, repeated herself for emphasis. InuYasha turned around to stare at her, because he felt another stab of pain in her aura, which at the moment was rubbing against his youki a little too familiarly.

To his chagrin, she wasn't even focusing on him, instead staring off into space. What on earth could be distracting her at a crucial moment like this? InuYasha, as of yet, had no response in finding out this secret she held in her room, but this was the perfect chance to tell her!

InuYasha opened his mouth, but Betty Lou beat him to it.

"Hey, you wanna come see me play on stage?" she asked, a twinkle of hope deep in her eyes.

(Author's note)

I am so so so so so so so so so so sorry it took me sooo long!! I swear I have the usual pathetic exscuses, but I'm not going to bother telling you because you'll still be mad at me. I promise it will never take me this long to post a new chapter ever again!

Anyway, so yeah, you've now met my main OC. She's a little different, in case you noticed, but I swear to god this isn't some kind of perverse self-insertion attempt. (espescially since I'm terrified of german shepards)

Basically you'll understand what's happening later on in the story, can't give too much away right now.

And another thing. I realize that this seems a little songfic-ish, but it's not. I just like that song (no matter how popular it is) and I always saw a little bit of a parallel between in and InuYasha. There will be other songs. What I'm really trying to do is convey how I'm feeling when I listen to the music into my writing. Am I doing okay? I think it might help if you guys could some how listen to the song while your reading it, it sure helped me write it.

Wow, this is a long author's note, I apoligize for taking up so much of your time. Please review, I need something to tide me over untill the next chapter, which I will begin working on immidiatly. Love you all!


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Rumiko Takahashirich, Kawa-Misuteriiworking as a busgirl in a dingy, dirty, downtown restaurant to pay for guitar lessons

Songs: Serve the Servant and Heart-Shaped Box by Nirvana  
Sally's Song by Danny Elfman

One Last Chance: Chapter 5

"You mean like in a concert?" InuYasha asked, lifting his eyebrow. He had seen Hiro watching a concert on TV before. It looked like it was just a bunch of teenagers beating the crap out of each other near a stage full of ridiculously dressed hooligans, thrashing and crashing about to the beat of foreign noise, which hurt his ears.

"I don't do well in crowds." he said quickly, waving his hands in front of him, wondering how he got himself into this one.

"HAH! Yeah right, like I'd be able to get myself into a concert, let alone play in one. No, there's this band that pays me to play with them every other Saturday at this minuscule club downtown. Tonight's Nirvana night. You like them right?" she asked walking out of her room.

'Nirvana? Like when a person reaches nirvana? Does that mean it'll just be a bunch of people sitting around meditating while she plays music? I guess I could handle that. But if someone tries to get me to pray, I'm outta there, simple as that. I need to call Hiro anyway, he'll want to know where the hell I've been. Dammit, I should have called him while I was sitting in that tree-'

"I'll take that as a yes. Common, I should have left five minutes ago." she said as she walked away from him, going to the corner of the living room. She grabbed an electric guitar from its stand and preceded to put it in a case, her dog already sitting ready to leave at the door.

"Nani?" InuYasha said, raising his eyebrow in confusion. Didn't they just get here?

His question was forgotten as another wave of recognition crossed her face, her eyes getting unusually wide.

"I knew it." she said in Japanese. "You're from the home land!"

"Hai."

"Where?" she asked.

"Tokyo." he said simply, not wanting to tell her he was from a forest named after himself. Just yet, anyway.

"Me too." she said, and a blue sadness leaked into her aura, although the pain, InuYasha thought, seemed to be numb, if not forgotten.

"Kyoko, do you want to stay here for tonight?" she asked her dog, as if she'd respond. InuYasha could just about read the dog's reply. The dog replied, using a twitch of her ear and a quiver of her lip, something along the lines of 'Kyoko does, but Kyoko must protect Mistress.'

InuYasha twitched his ears under his bandana, feeling the need to tell the dog that she would be safe with him, but that was impossible since she couldn't see his movements. Damn it.

They left the tiny apartment, Betty Lou stopping to give the land lord a fistful of money, and they were back on the street, now going in the opposite direction from which they came.

She hummed as she walked, something that normally would have annoyed InuYasha to no end. But he was strangely relaxed, if a little cold in the March night. He unconsciously crossed his arms over his chest as he walked, wishing he had his fire-rat with him. He was getting more and more uneasy walking in this dangerous part of town, feeling his senses awaken at the threat of attack from the shady looking characters standing on the street corners.

She had an easy gait, even though her shoulders seemed to be weighed down. The guitar on her back just seemed to belong, as if she were meant to carry it with her. InuYasha found himself wondering if Kagome should have had one of those instruments.

'Nah, it would have slowed her down even more. But I bet she would have been able to play it, like this one.' InuYasha frowned at that thought, for some reason.

Betty's hair was longer than his, hanging passed her backside and gently brushing the backs of her thighs. He wondered how she managed to keep it from getting tangled, but noticed that she was doing something...rather peculiar.

He had felt a twinge of nervousness in her aura earlier, and he assumed that it was just because she was going to go perform in this club-thing while a bunch of people were going to sit around her and reach nirvana. InuYasha twitched his leg whenever he was nervous or impatient. Apparently, Betty Lou enjoyed pulling the skin off of her lips.

Her eyes were dancing in excitement, and she had put her hands to her lips compulsively, beginning to pull on the little bits of dead skin and scab on her lips. She had done this to herself as long as she could remember, never mind that it made her lips disgusting and mangled. It was a bad habit that she had no intention of getting rid of, along with a whole list of others.

"What the fuck are you doing?" InuYasha asked, immediately repulsed by the smell of her blood when she yanked off a scab with her fingernails.

"What?" she said.

"Th-THAT! Your ripping off your own lips! What the hell is wrong with you?" he shouted, pointing to her mouth, where her fingers still resting on her flesh, having stopped their picking.

"First of all, get your finger out of my face. Second of all, lay off, dude. Everybody's got a hobby." she said simply, not the least bit embarrassed. To his relief, however, she did stop doing it. He wondered what sort of Kami would posses her to hurt herself.

After a half hour of walking, InuYasha was considering hailing a cab for the girl. But she disappeared from his sight for a moment, turning sharply into an alley, and descending into a hidden staircase leading to a basement, something InuYasha would not have even noticed had she not lead him into it.

The smells coming out of the place were pungent, to say the least. It looked like someone's oversized downstairs activity room or something, turned into a bar/stage. InuYasha wrinkled his nose as the familiar smell of unwashed bodies crept into his nose, something he hadn't had to deal with since he left the feudal era..

It was crowded, to say the least, and the thick aroma of cigarette smoke made him choke on his own breath. He was startled to smell that most of the people in the club were either youkai, hanyou, or the mate of a youkai or hanyou. InuYasha, instead of being put on edge like he normally would have, felt an air of acceptance among the odors.

He saw that, although they still bothered to wear whatever concealment charms they had, they all seemed to stand out just as much as he did. Many of the people had his silvery-white hair color, but most of them had cut it and shaved it into unusual figures and styles. But what surprised him the most was that Betty Lou seemed to be perfectly at home amongst demons.

'Just how weird can one miko be?' he asked himself. 'She should sense them, can't she? Why isn't she on high alert?' InuYasha watched her as she found him a stool to sit on at the bar, and disappeared behind a curtain at the front of the room.

'Wait a second...why would demons be trying to reach nirvana?' he asked, immediately looking around suspiciously.  


A few minutes later, the lights in the room dimmed, and the curtain opened.

She stepped onto the stage, her lips pursed and grinning slightly. InuYasha could feel a confidence radiate off of her, her nervousness having melted away. She stepped up to the microphone. The dingy little club immediately became quite, and the hanyou could sense the anticipation in the crowd.

"How you all doin' tnight?" she yelled into the mike, snapping InuYasha's focus from the strange feeling of belonging that surrounded him.

"Okay, we're gonna do a couple of Nirvana covers for you Cobain fans out there, in honor of Kurt's birthday. Sung by Mr. Scab here, I'm sure you'll all enjoy." she smiled as she stepped back, out of the way. InuYasha crinkled his nose at the stench as a very skuzzy hanyou teenager walked out from backstage, his tangled hair so unclean it was impossible to tell what color it was.

"Common, Betty, don't be modest. Everyone, it's Betty Lou's birthday tonight, as well! Give a cheer!" growled the boy at the audience, turning back and give Betty Lou a hopeful smile, which she did not return, instead scowling at the praise she got from the crowd.

Without any introduction of himself, he stepped up to the mike, nodding to Betty Lou and the other band member's appreciatively. Betty Lou put on an angry face and looked out into the crowd as her fingers started an interestingly pleasing song. InuYasha's ears perked up at the sound, despite the incessant, unnecessary feedback of the amplifier. The boy opened him mouth and began singing, much as if he was tripping on some kind of drug. The hanyou thought he was ruining the pleasing song with his gruff voice, but Betty Lou, in contrast, began smiling and nodding her head with the beat.

"_Teenage angst has paid off well, now I'm bored and old. Self-appointed judges judge, More than they have sold._

"_If she floats than she is not, a witch like we had thought. A down payment on another  
One at salems lot.  
_  
"_Serve the servants - oh no. That legendary divorce is such a bore_

"_As my bones grew they did hurt, They hurt really bad. I tried hard to have a father, but instead I had a dad.  
_  
"_I just want you to know that I don't hate you anymore. There is nothing I could say that I haven't thought before..._

"_Serve the servants - oh no, that legendary divorce is such a bore._"

The depressing lyrics mixed with Betty Lou's guitar playing caused a feeling to rise inside InuYasha. He remembered the angst and anger he felt towards his father, for leaving him and his mother to fend for themselves. Yes, that was the word, angst. He liked it, a little. Not as destructive as his anger, but still exactly what he was feeling. InuYasha decided that he liked this music. He turned to look at Betty Lou as she began another song, this one starting out with a rather slow and simple riff.

"_She eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak. I've been locked inside your heart-shaped box for four whole weeks. I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap. I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black._

"_Hey! wait! I've got a new complaint! Forever in debt to your priceless advice.  
_  
"_Hey! wait! I've got a new complaint! Forever in debt to your priceless advice._

"_Hey! wait! I've got a new complaint! Forever in debt to your priceless advice. Your  
adviiiiiiiiiice..._

"_Meat-eating orchids forgive no one just yet. Cut myself on angels hair and babies breath. Broken hymen of your highness I'm left black. Throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb right back._

_"Hey! wait! I've got a new complaint! Forever in debt to your priceless advice.  
_  
"_Hey! wait! I've got a new complaint! Forever in debt to your priceless advice.  
_  
"_Hey! wait! I've got a new complaint! Forever in debt to your priceless advice. Your  
adviiiiiiiiiice..._

"_She eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak. I've been locked inside your heart-shaped box for weeks. I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap. I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black._

"_Hey! wait! I've got a new complaint! Forever in debt to your priceless advice._

"_Hey! wait! I've got a new complaint! Forever in debt to your priceless advice._

"_Hey! wait! I've got a new complaint! Forever in debt to your priceless advice._

"Your adviiiiiice...Your adviiiiiiiiiiice...Your adviiiiiiiiice."

'Yeah, I like this a lot.' said InuYasha to himself, starting to nod his head to the rhythm. They continued playing songs like that for over an hour, the hanyou picking up lyrics as obscene as 'Rape Me' to as depressing as 'I'm worst at what I do best.' He thought with a smirk at what Kaede would think of the unbelievably rude and questionable songs.

'I could definitely get used to this.' InuYasha thought leaning his head back while the band started shifting around, preparing to leave.

Betty Lou stepped back up to the microphone, looking a little tired.

"Okay, we're almost done here. But, per request of someone who saw our Halloween gig at Sammy's, I'm going to sing a song for a Ms. Lucretia Simon, seeing as she shares the same birthday as our beloved Kurt and myself!" The entire crowd turned to cheer congratulations to a large female bird youkai in the back with many piercings' and a multi-colored Mohawk. The woman smiled in glee and turned her attention back to Betty Lou, as did everyone else. She looked slightly annoyed, for whatever reason, but still she smiled, and turned to the keyboard guy to give him the cue.

The next moment, it wasn't Betty Lou standing there, but a skinnier, sicklier Kagome. InuYasha almost fell out of his chair when he looked into her eyes, which were staring straight back at him, instead of the deadened, hollow stare of Betty Lou. They had a spark in them that he hadn't seen in years.

"Kagome..." he whispered, not loud enough for anyone to hear, but Betty Lou/Kagome nodded at the trace of her name on his lips. And then she opened hers.

"_I sense there's something in the wind...that feels like tragedies at hand. And though I'd like to stand by him...can't shake this feeling that I have. The worst is just around the bend...And does he notice my feelings for him?...And will he see, how much he means to me? I think it's not to be...  
_  
"_What will become of my dear friend? Where will his actions lead us then? Although I'd like to join the crowd...in their enthusiastic cloud. Try as I may, it doesn't last...and will we ever...end up together? No, I think not, it's never to become...For I am not the one"  
_

It was a hauntingly chilling song, slow and meaningful. She was singing with Kagome's high pitched, quavering voice, instead of her own low, gentle tone. The words were speaking right to him, about his struggle with Naraku, about his own inability to tell her that he didn't see Kikyou every time he looked at her.

"Oh, Kagome." he said, looking right into her eyes as she finished her song. They closed, longer than a blink but shorter than a downward glance, and then she was Betty Lou again, smirking at the applauding crowd.

"So, what didja think?" she asked after the show, the two of them walking side by side, going nowhere 

in particular.

"I like them all." he said, trying to keep his composure.

"A man of few words, eh? So...you're a grunge fan? I'll have to introduce you to some punk, if you liked that. I'll start you out on the originals, The Ramones, Black Flag, we'll see what happens." she said before falling silent, not really seeing the need to keep speaking. They fell into a comfortable silence.

"So what was the deal with that last song?" he asked, a moment later.

"Oh, Sally's Song? It's from one of my favorite movies as a kid. We covered a whole bunch of creepy songs like that for our Halloween special last year. Honestly, I wasn't too pleased about being landed with that one, it's not really my style, you know? But you want to hear something weird? Both times I sang it on stage, like just now, I kind of glazed over and just let it flow, and I had sung it before I even realized. And it's not just that song, either. There are a bunch that I know I sing, but I don't really feel like myself while I do it. But it's only with those whiney, don't forget my crappy love songs. Stupid, huh? Oh well, don't fix it if it ain't broken, I always say. People like them, so I guess I just...give them what they want." she turned to look at InuYasha to find him staring at her intensely. Her eyebrows furrowed in slight irritation. "Hey!" she snapped his fingers in his face, getting no reply. "You got something to say or are you just gonna stand there lookin' pretty?"

'This isn't the right time.' his inner voice told him. 'Not just yet.'

"You hungry again?" he said finally, trying to shake away the thoughts that were going a million miles a minute. Betty Lou looked thoughtful for a moment, then said:

"Look, I don't think it's a good idea if we keep hanging out like this." she said, and more pain leaked into her aura.

'Kami, how much pain can one miko deal with?' InuYasha thought before the implications of what she had just said sank in.

"And why the hell not?" he asked incredulously.

"Because I said so, that's why." she said, walking closer to Kyoko than him.

"That's not an answer." he said, lowering his voice dangerously.

"Don't you dare try and intimidate me. You don't know me, and I don't know you. Look, trust me, it's better if you just go home, now." she replied, her voice dropping to a low whisper. To his disgust, InuYasha was afraid of her, just as he had been afraid of Kagome whenever she got truly angry with him.

"Hey, bitch, what's your problem? It's not like I've done anything untrustworthy. Name one thing I've done that gives you a good reason to talk to me like that!" he said, pointing his finger in her face.

"Get your damn finger out of my face." she growled, glaring daggers at him.

"Gyeah..." InuYasha whimpered, sensing her miko powers flare up. Then, to his surprise, she gave a small, sad sigh.

"You haven't done anything wrong. Look, trust me, it's just better if you stay away from me." she said, that hardened, deadened, icy cold look flooding her eyes.

"Give me one good reason." he said, stubbornly crossing his arms in front of him, his face set with one look. Inside, however, his thoughts were turning wildly again.

'I thought she remembered me!'

'She doesn't, that's impossible. It's her soul that remembers me!' replied his inner voice.

'Well then, what the hell is wrong?'

'I don't know! Her aura is interacting with me like she never died! I don't know what's wrong! Stop her! She has to stay with us, now that we found her! She just has to!'

'Yeah, no shit. But how am I supposed to do that if she won't let me?'

'Think of something! Find out what's wrong!'

'Okay, okay!'

"I don't have one, alright, just call it intuition." Betty Lou said, looking down and scuffing her feet. InuYasha twinged as his youki tried to reach out and comfort her, her aura flickering and shying away from him now.

'Have to stop my damn youki, it's getting way too familiar.' he thought and gritted his teeth, yet unable to control his demon aura.

"Just...let me buy you a coffee or something." he said, getting desperate. He allowed his youki to reach out this time, trying a new tactic. It swelled and warmed, almost surrounding the girl. An undeniable look of comfort crossed her face. Although reluctantly, she nodded her head.

"Only if I get to pick where." she said, looking as if she would rather start running.  


"Fine."

InuYasha was in heaven.

Well, as close to heaven as he was ever going to get, anyway. They had taken the subway to Chinatown, and to InuYasha's joy, Betty Lou led him into a café that served his favorite ramen, hot and fresh! The warm aroma wafted into his nostrils and he had to stop himself from leaning back in the booth with a stupid smile on his face while he waited for his food.

That is, until a scent drifted by that was not particularly welcome.

"Dude, check out that guy over there! He looks just like you, Lee!" said a boy whose scent reminded him of the wimpy wolf.

InuYasha looked up to see where the unwelcome scent was coming from, and to his displeasure, saw that the boys were pointing at him.

Then, to add to his list of surprises for that day (or the past two days, really, seeing as it was now after midnight) InuYasha found himself looking into a face remarkably like his own.

The boy he had been referring to gave him the once over, and then a satisfied smirk, a picture of himself sizing up an opponent for battle. He had even let his hair grow long, and bleached it white-blonde. InuYasha smirked. It was no where near as long as his. And no way would he cut it that choppy and fussy.

InuYasha turned away, intending to ignore them, but all of his thoughts stopped when he sensed a stab of panic coming from the girl sitting across from him. He widened his senses to look for any danger, but found nothing even resembling it. She was sliding down in her seat, trying to hide herself.

"I knew I shouldn't have come here again." she whispered, unaware that InuYasha could hear her with his superior hanyou senses. He could smell unshed tears in her eyes. What the hell?

"Well, well, well. I should have known this guy had something to do with you, Lump. Common, get up, I see you." said InuYasha's look-alike, the sneer sickeningly getting wider.

"Lump?" InuYasha asked, but was ignored by the people surrounding him now.  


Betty Lou slid up back into her seat, not meeting the eyes of anyone. InuYasha was overwhelmed by the pain and panic in her eyes, let alone her aura. They were full of unshed tears now, but she was amazingly holding them back.

"Wow, Lump. This is really pathetic. Do you miss me that much? As far as I know this is the only guy I've seen you hanging around with, so are you telling me that your just gonna hang around guys who look exactly like me from now on?" he said, leaning down and sneering in her face. Betty Lou shut her eyes and looked away, obviously wishing the earth would just swallow her right then and there.

InuYasha, on the other hand, felt a rage rushing through him that he hadn't felt in fifteen years. Who did this baka think he was, walking in here and talking to her like that? He was about to stand up and challenge the cocky bastard before he leaned in and whispered, not meaning for anyone else to hear. Unfortunately, InuYasha heard every word.

"Or are you still looking for the hero in your pictures? Is that it, Lump? Are you looking for that dog boy in your dreams, the one you told me about? Guess what, Lump. It's not going to happen." the boy snickered. "Your going to be alone for the rest of your life if you keep this up. Your not going to find him, no matter what. And I'm going to be there to laugh when you fall. When your on your knees, just begging for it to be all over, for all of it to stop. I'll be there, standing over you, pointing and laughing, along with the rest of the world." he said, more venom in his voice than Naraku could ever manage.

Betty Lou got up and ran from the store, forgetting her guitar completely and holding her hands to her face as she tried to hide her tears.

InuYasha cracked his knuckles.

"Hey, can I talk to you?" InuYasha asked his double, holding back his glare in order to catch the boy off guard.

"Yeah man, sure." Lee said, unaware that the hanyou had heard this last exchange. They began walking together outside. "Look, don't bothering getting your hopes up with Betty. She's the world's most emotionally crippled, tragically broken artist. I dated her for a year and she never put out for me! Then I find out that the only reason she's going out with me is cause I look like-AGG!!" the boy stopped in the middle of his sentence because InuYasha had pinned him to an alley wall by his neck, ripping off his bandana to show his ears.

"If you EVER speak to her again, I'll kill you." he said, fighting down the raw rage in his demon blood, screaming at him to kill the boy. Lee, on the other hand, was more interested by the ears on InuYasha's head, and the fangs in his mouth, which were bared for the world to see.

"You-you're a...a...a yao mo!" Lee sputtered, shutting up when he felt InuYasha's claws grazing his neck. 

InuYasha ignored the foreign word, and landed a punch in the punks jaw. Leaving him in the alley, he went back in to get her guitar, then began sniffing around for Betty Lou.

He could smell her unshed tears even now, but he could also tell that she had somehow managed to get rather far away, for a human. After a while, he ended up following Kyoko's more musty scent, and found the pair sitting in a playground, Betty resting on a swing while petting Kyoko's head, the dog standing loyal and still by her mistress, resting her head in her lap.

"Go away." Betty Lou said miserably, lowering her head as if were heavy with her own sadness.

"Are you going to bother giving me a reason why?" InuYasha asked, feeling his heart beat speed up at the sight of her. She looked even more forlorn than when he had first met her.

"No." she said simply, refusing to look at him. Kyoko began growling at him, warning him to stay away from Mistress while she was distressed. InuYasha ignored her and sat down on the swing next to her, and began pumping back and forth, thinking hard in the silence.

"Who was that guy?" InuYasha asked, but he was beginning to lose hope for any type of answer. The anguish in her aura made it a little hard for him to breathe.

"Koishii..." she whispered to herself, and the breath in InuYasha's throat caught, choking him.

"Be-beloved?" he asked, the shock rattling his body as his hands gripped the chains of the swing, threatening to break them. Beloved? That asshole?

He was considering yelling at her, but then he heard her sniffling. She was valiantly holding back her tears, but she couldn't deny her misery. Kyoko whined.

InuYasha realized that he hadn't put his bandana back on, and his ears were exposed for the world to see. Fortunately, there weren't many people walking around at two in the morning, and it was dark. He made a decision.

"Betty, look at me." he said, kneeling down in front of her. Her head was bowed, stubbornly refusing. He could sense her need to run itching in her legs.

"Look at me." he repeated, taking her chin in his hand. His instincts were screaming at him for being so familiar with a girl he just met, but he quelled them, trying to focus on the moment. Perhaps revealing that he was the boy from her past lives, from her dreams, would be the best thing to tell her first. She needed a friend now more than anything, and damn it, he would give one to her, fuck his own weaknesses.

She had closed her eyes when he lifted her head, but she slowly opened them, accidentally letting one 

tear slip from her eye. They widened in disbelief when she saw his ears, and she began shaking, tears forgotten. She tentatively reached up and took one ear in her hand. InuYasha stared back into her disbelieving face as she felt his ear, rubbing it between her fingers. He blinked slowly, wondering what was going through her head.

Suddenly she tensed, holding his ear a little too hard. He tried to flick it out of her rough grasp, but instead he succeeded in making her leap out of his range. She was now standing on the other side of the swing, her legs threatening to give way. InuYasha wondered how she managed to get away from him so quickly, but was struck dumb by the look on her face. She was...horrified?

"Keera." he said, not sure what else to say. The look on her face was more than he could bear.

"**DON'T CALL ME THAT!**" she screamed, now more terrified than she had been in a long time. Her hands clenched into fists, and then she was gone. She was running away, in who knows what direction, Kyoko running as fast a wolf beside her. Betty Lou turned a corner and disappeared, but Kyoko stopped and looked at InuYasha, standing by the swing by himself like a baka. For one meaningful moment, they held each other's gaze, having a years worth of conversation in one look. Then, she too was gone.

Sighing, InuYasha sat back down on the swing, retying the bandana over his ears. He sighed again and scuffled his feet, rocking back and forth on the chains. He pulled out the cell phone Hiro had given him after programming his number into it. InuYasha never felt the need to call anyone else.

"Unhngg...InuYasha?" Hiro said sleepily. InuYasha remembered that it was still early before he yelled at the guy for sleeping on the job.

"Hiro? I found her." InuYasha said quickly.

"What? Really?" Hiro asked, all sleep devoid of his voice now.

"Yeah. She's using a fake name, just like we thought." InuYasha told him everything he learned that day, minus the differences he noticed between Betty Lou and Kagome. And the incident with Lee.

"A musician? Very interesting. I'm sure we could help her out a little with her situation. Sesshomaru-sama has plenty of funds, I bet he'll gladly give up a little to feed a poor miko." he said, the wheels already turning in his head.

"Yeah, well, I didn't exactly make the greatest first impression. Don't wait up for me, I'm going to watch over her. I'll be in one of the trees across from her apartment, alright?" he said, itching to run, fight, kill, something, anything!

"Hai, InuYasha-sama. I'll come and find you around seven, okay?" Hiro said, planning to investigate the girl himself. After a few more hours of sleep, that is.  


"Hai. Arigatou, Hiro-san. I'll see you then." InuYasha snapped the phone shut. He disappeared into the night, his mission heavy on his mind.

"So that's her, right there, right? Coming out of the apartment building?" Hiro asked as he watched Betty Lou walk out of the building, guitar strapped to her back. She didn't notice InuYasha sitting in one of the lower branches in a tree across the street, nor the sophisticated looking man he was whispering to. She looked even worse than when InuYasha had first saw her.

"Yeah, that's her alright. I guess she goes to school during the week and goes out to beg on the streets on the weekend. Then she hands over all her cash to her tyrant land lord." InuYasha grumbled, ignoring the stares he got from people looking up at him from the sidewalk. "Hey! You said Sesshomaru has money stashed away, right? Let's get her some food. I have to give her back her guitar anyway." he said, indicating the case he held on to.

"Well, I suppose that would be alright. You say that she doesn't want to talk to you?" Hiro asked, but to his chagrin, the hanyou wasn't paying attention anymore.

"She didn't sleep at all last night..." he mumbled to himself.

"Well, that's to be expected. What happened, when you first approached her? I'm assuming you did something wrong, seeing as your reluctant to approach her now. You never were the tactful type, InuYasha-sama." Hiro said wisely.

"Keh. Shut up, bouzo, I have it under control." he said.

They went to a small market and bought some generic food products to bring back to Betty's house, not getting much because there wasn't enough room in her tiny refrigerator to hold more food than would last a few days. When they went back to the building, the landlord at the front desk didn't even acknowledge their existence, let alone ask them what they were doing there.

"You know where she keeps her key?" Hiro asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. InuYasha fought the urge to punch him in his gut, seeing as Hiro was holding most of the food in his arms. The door was blocked however, with a large German Sheppard, which was growling angrily.

"Common, Kyoko, you know me!" InuYasha said, shoving the animal out of his way in order to bring the food. The dog continued to growl at him, although it was obvious she was fearful of him. To Hiros' surprise, InuYasha was also making a growling, yipping noise in the back of his throat, almost as if he 

was...reassuring the dog!

"Whoa." Hiro said quietly when the dog lowered her head and backed into a corner. "Did you just say something to it?" he asked.

"Yeah, she'll leave us alone." InuYasha said, arranging the bags of food and putting some milk and soda in the little fridge.

"Fascinating..." Hiro said.

"What's so fascinating about it? I am half inuyoukai, in case you haven't noticed." InuYasha said reproachfully, setting her guitar case in the corner.

"Well, yes, I suppose so...but I never knew you had the ability to converse with dogs!"

"That's because you never asked." InuYasha said simply, not really paying attention to the conversation anymore. He felt the need to go look at the pictures in her room again...

"Remarkable!" Hiro said, having already gone to investigate the place InuYasha kept glancing at.

"Hey!" InuYasha said, angry that Hiro had started his own investigating before he could wake himself from his musings. 'That's what I get for day dreaming...' he thought.

"She's quite talented." he said, peering closer at the drawings. InuYasha took the chance to investigate the ones he hadn't really looked at before. To his joy, he saw a picture of Kagome pinned to the wall, close to the bare mattress lying on the floor, Betty Lou's bed.

In the picture, Kagome was standing innocently, her hands folded behind her back. She had that familiar smile on her face, and Betty Lou had even managed to capture to sparkle in her eyes when ever InuYasha looked at her. She was wearing the same school uniform she always did, although he noticed that her skirt was even shorter than he remembered. He looked to the picture above that, and saw a fantastic rendition of Kagome riding on his back, himself in mid leap over a forest of trees. Kirara was carrying Sango, Miroku, and Shippou on her back, although Betty seemed to forget the flames that burned on the neko's tail and feet when she flew. He also saw that she seemed to have forgotten Hiraikotsu, as well as the covering over Miroku's right hand to protect the kazanaa.

He looked up and another picture of himself, and had to hold back a snort of disgust. She was completely off with his outfit! First of all, he certainly didn't wear black boots like Sesshomaru! He sure as hell didn't have a red jacket instead of a hakama, and neither did he wear pants like that! His scowl was set, when he noticed that the only people who she managed to get their outfits right were Kikyou, Kagome, and Sango's demon slaying uniform.

He looked at a few more of them, and although the mistakes she made frustrated him, he also had to admire how well she captured everyone's emotions in their faces. To his displeasure, he found one that was a close up of Kagome looking out of the corner of her eye as she hid fearfully behind a tree, while he and Kikyou were embracing in the background. He frowned, his generous mood having evaporated.

InuYasha tore down that picture with a swipe of his claws, and turned to leave. Of corse, he was stopped by another picture he had failed to notice. This one was hanging over her door, fluttering from the breeze let in by the open window. It was a simple enough sketch, drawn with colored pencils like all of the others. But instead of a figure standing alone, or some sort of scene, it was a pair of hands. One was male, large, calloused, and clawed. The other was small, pale, and distinctly female, looking as if it was being overwhelmed by the other monster of a hand gripping it. And yet, they seemed to fit together perfectly, the clawed thumb gently grazing the skin on the back of the female's hand.

InuYasha reached up and took it off of the door, and held it, smiling slightly. He didn't know whose hand he was holding, but he knew whoever it was, he loved them.

"Disgusting." InuYasha said as he wrinkled his nose, smelling the foul odor drifting from across the street.

He was once again in the tree, observing Betty Lou from afar. Her reaction to finding the food had not been as jubilant as he expected. Instead of squealing and jumping around like he'd wanted her to, she instead shrugged half-heartedly, as if she didn't really want the food, but there was no point in letting it go to waste.

"Ungrateful wench..." he mumbled angrily. She knew who gave her the food. Didn't mean that she had to go find him and thank him or anything.

He had been watching her for about four days now, and to his annoyance, she hadn't slept more than an hour at a time. He was beginning to wonder if this was a normal occurrence when she also began smoking. He supposed that she didn't do it often, or he would have picked up the scent on her clothes. But she must have had more experience with doing it than he thought, because she inhaled the smoke as if it were the air of longevity.

She also had another habit that disturbed him even more than picking off her lips. She would sit on her window sill after a long session of playing her guitar, letting her leg hang out in the open air. She stared off into the sky, smoking a cigarette, reminding InuYasha of Kagome's fascination with the stars from his time. Then with a determined look on her face, she snuffed out her cigarette into the sensitive skin on her thigh, without even flinching at the obvious pain she was causing herself.  


When she first did this, InuYasha had cried out, almost startling her enough to fall out of the window. He was about to leap forward to catch her from falling three stories, but she caught herself by grabbing the window. She had looked around the empty street, looking for the source of the yell. Eventually, she shrugged and went back inside, back to playing around with her guitar, as she didn't have a TV.

She preceded to do that to herself every night so far, and InuYasha was praying to whatever Kami listened to hanyou that she'd run out of cigarettes.

'She swears, she smokes, she eats like a pig, she hurts herself on purpose, and she's in love with some other guy.' he thought angrily. His fists tightened on the branches he was gripping. 'Whatever. Doesn't matter. It's not like I care, anyway. Once she purifies the jewel, I'll never see her again. And that's just the way I want it.' he said to himself, before adding a final thought. 'She's nothing like Kagome.'

And for once, his inner voice did not add to his musings.

"Day number six." InuYasha said out loud to no one in particular. He'd now been following her and sitting in the tree for almost a full week. He knew for sure she had seen him following her to school once, because he had to avoid being harassed by a cop she had stopped and pointed him out to.

He felt slimy and weird having to keep tabs on her all the time without her permission, making sure she didn't try to leave the city or something stupid like that. Then again, where would she go? She barely had anything there, but she definitely had nothing anywhere else. Still, he also felt nostalgia at watching over her, protecting her like he did Kagome.

On the fifth day of his vigilance, he saw her being chased down the street by a bunch of boys yelling 'Chink! Chink! Get the chink! Get her!'. As soon as Betty Lou had gotten out of sight from the boys, he had leaped down and showed them what a chink could do (whatever the hell that was) by delivering a few punches and death threats if they ever went near her again.

He was a little surprised to find out that she had been chased by these guys since she started living by herself, simply because she was Japanese. This angered him more than her smoking habit, and yet, couldn't help but sympathize with her. He too had been chased because of what he was.

InuYasha was currently in a very bad mood, having not slept enough even for his hanyou body. Hiro had insisted on bringing him his ramen and a soda every once and a while, but other than that, InuYasha felt as if he was hunting in a dead forest, not eating until he caught something, which could be never if he didn't find something soon.  


Betty Lou was now pacing around her apartment, seeing as she had given up entertaining herself with her guitar. If he strained his ears, and there were no cars nearby, he could hear her frantic whispers

"I'm losing it, I need sleep, god I need some sleep. I'm going crazy, it's happening again, oh dear god, Luna, I wish you were here.' she murmured to herself, twisting her hands now as she walked around in circles.

'Keh, no wonder you think your losing it, you took about four of those big ass sleeping pills.' InuYasha thought with a snort of laughter. He was actually quite impressed with her ability to stay awake like she did. That is, until Hiro explained that she probably had some kind of disease that prevented her from sleeping. 'Great!' he had said. 'On top of everything else, it's impossible for her to sleep. Just fucking perfect!' he spat.

InuYasha had to strain is eyes to see what she was doing now. He could see her through her window, and it looked like she was looking intently at her own reflection in her bathroom mirror.

InuYasha was beginning to worry what was wrong when she did nothing for almost ten minutes except stare at herself. Then, her aura seemed to implode on itself, sending out a wave of miko energy that made their hairs on the back of InuYasha's neck stand up.

He watched in horror as Betty Lou slammed her own head down on the bathroom sink, effectively knocking herself unconscious, not hearing InuYasha's scream.

"KEERA!"

(Author's Note)

Well, I felt so bad about taking so long with my last chapter, that I put myself into overdrive today and spat out this bad boy!

Okay, a few answers to questions I'm sure you have that I just can't work into the story.

1. No, Lee is not InuYasha's reincarnation. He's just some asshole whole stole Betty Lou's heart, who also happens to look like InuYasha and gets off bleaching his hair.  


2. Lee and his dirtball friends are Chinese, not Japanese. The term yao mo is supposed to be the Chinese equvilant to youkai, which is the Japanese equivalent to demon, but then again, I'm no expert.

3. Sorry again for the song-fic-ishness, I truly don't want it to be anything tacky.

So there you have it. Since I managed to get this thing out in only two days, I think I deserve reviews, don't you? I love you all even if you don't review, ja ne for now!


End file.
